The Carol Duvall Show cameras visit Charlotte McDonnell to focus on her handpainted needlepoint canvases. Hardly a novice, McDonnell has been stitching for years. Her background in fashion design provides an outlet for personal expression in her work. "It allows me to be real creative with my stitching and with design, "she says. "I like for it to look a little whimsy and (have) a little bit of a story behind each piece that I do." Having thought designs out in her head, McDonnell puts them to paper. With a panoramic view of the lake from her Grosse Ile, Mich., home, McDonnell finds a lot of inspiration from her window. "I really enjoy working where I have good daylight and can see the birds, the flowers, the trees," she says. "All of nature really inspires you." Using a light box and a permanent pen, McDonnell traces the design onto a 18-count cotton canvas. She paints the canvas with watered-down acrylic paint and lets it dry to prepare it for stitching. When ready to stitch a piece, McDonnell mounts it on stretcher bars or a roller frame. She sometimes leaves the painted canvas partially exposed in the stitching. "It makes more depth and you can use different stitches . . . ," she says."This becomes an intrical part of your design" The dilligence, time and effort to make a canvas is well worth it for McDonnell. "I really feel good when people enjoy my work," she says. "I hope that they can kind of catch a little bit of the feeling and the story that I'm trying to portray."
GUESTS :
Charlotte McDonnell
Needlework artist
Contact guest for availability of needlework patterns and painted canvases.
28768 Swan Island
Grosse Ile, MI 48138-2077
E-mail: charmcdonn@aol.com
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