2016 Second Place, Professional Mixed Media

Bargello Sea is one of the pieces I created during my journey in NAN’s Teacher cum Laude program. I chose to explore the use of handmade paper in needlepoint. For Bargello Sea, my plan was to create a Bargello background, which doesn’t follow some of the rules, using colors of the sea. Then place the paper shells on top.

The shells were created by mixing/blending the pulp and placing the pulp in shell moulds. After drying, I removed the shells from the mould and spent some time trimming the excess paper, which is saved for future paper creations. To get the shells to look real, I used a dry paint brush and colored chalk to paint the shells. The shells are attached to the piece using pearl cotton. This is exactly how I would attach a real shell.