Sticking with the fields theme, but focusing in on a specific ploughed area I came up with this sample and the smaller one below. Firstly I dyed some scrim and some rafia with strong black coffee, then couched strips of each onto a scrim base. Some of the couching is done with a gold thread to give a bit of glitter and maybe a hint of frost on the field.
I like the way the stitching distorts the fabric and I think it does achieve the look of furrows across a field.
This is a tiny interpretation of the same ploughed field, worked on quite a stiff canvas. I just cut some lengths of a thick, soft string, frayed the ends and laid the lengths on a scrap piece of canvas. Next I painted the canvas and the string, but not the frayed ends. Then I couched the string down with a gold thread and added beads. If the couched string represents the furrows the beads would be the bits of chalk and flint thrown up by the plough.
