Sunday 16 March 2008

Celtic Gothic Arch

It's really lovely when you can combine 2 different challenges in one piece of work and of course, it saves a lot of time too. Today was such a rare occasion. The theme for the Gothic Arches Challenge was for something Celtic, in honour of St Patrick's Day tomorrow.

I used to live in Ireland (Limerick) back in the early Eighties, so how could I not participate in that one.

We were also given our monthly challenge image from LostArtCreations which featured the lucky Irish four leaf clover so I immediately printed out this image twice on watercolour paper and then overlapped these two so the four-leaf clovers fitted around the outside edges of the arch. I loved the arch already at this stage.

I added a vellum image from LostArtCreations My Love collage sheet. The lady is wearing a green dress as you can see, so she immediately became Irish in my mind. A search through my Quotation book produced the text: Ireland taught me love was best, which in turn lead to the heart button at the top. The arch needed a bit more sparkle so I put some green Swarowski crystals on with my hot-tip applicator. It's a bit hard to see them on the scan (they are in the centre of the clovers).

The arch was mounted on felt and another layer of watercolour paper and then zig-zag stitched around the edges with green thread. It took about 1 hour to make and it became one of my favourite arches immediately. Occasionally speed helps to produce better work (although not always, unfortunately!!)

Happy St. Patrick's Day to all my readers!!

26 comments:

Sandy said...

Oh my gosh, Frida this is brilliant. Looks so great.

http://truutske.blogspot.com said...

It's a really beautiful arch.
I love it.

~*~Patty S said...

Lovely Celtic arch Frieda! Love the quote as well!

vintage wil said...

Its a really beautiful arch!!!

Anonymous said...

Stunning piece again. Love the whole idea

Debby said...

Oh my gosh Frieda, this is just stunning. I love it. Happy St. Patty's Day!
Debby

Mary-Beth said...

Freida, I just love this!! I had a feeling you might like the theme but I didn't realize how much! LOL

Thank you so much for playing !

Judy said...

WOW, Frieda, this is absoutely stunning!
JudyNZ

Anonymous said...

Itws gorgeous, great colours and image.

carylsrealm said...

Beautiful! Just wonderful!

Tova said...

Fantastic !!

Barbara said...

Gorgeous arch.

Karen Owen said...

Frieda, absolutely gorgeous. I must tell you I always look forward to seeing what you create on fabric.

Anneke said...

what a beautiful celtic arch and the flowers what surrounded the image.
my compliments

Anonymous said...

Frieda, your arch is lovely. I really enjoyed reading the process you went through to create this piece. The crystals are such a magical touch and from someone who lives Ireland vicariously through Celtic music (Altan and Thistle and Shamrock) and Ballykissangel, Happy St. Patrick's Day! :)

Mandy Chilvers said...

gorgeous work Frieda

Louise (KardKrazy) said...

I love this...love your flowered border.

sandee said...

Frieda~Beautiful as always!

Barbara Hagerty said...

Absolutely beautiful, Frieda! What a wonderful arch, beautifully done! The shades of green are wonderful, too!

Laura Kirste Campbell said...

I love how you walked us through the artistic process and the materials. That enhanced my experience with your shining talent. It's lovely to behold.
Creatively Yours, Laura

Anonymous said...

BEAUTIFUL arch, love in irland !

Maryanne said...

as always, Frieda, it's a great piece of art.

Anonymous said...

Super! Love your arches!!!

Anonymous said...

Super!!! Love your arches!!!

Anonymous said...

very freh arch

Vintage Papers said...

gorgeous arch - love the celtic details on it. how lucky that you have lived in the Netherlands, Ireland and Scotland!

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