Honorable Mention

Reprise is the second of two designs by Caela Conn Tyler which are based on the famous Waterlilies paintings by Monet.

Caela painted the canvas for the students; the colors are lavenders, pinks and greens. Most of the water and the reflections of the flowers and trees are worked in very open needlepoint stitches or in free-form darning stitches. Metallic, silk, and rayon threads are all employed to give the composition a watery feel; then some chiffon is appliquéd over tent-stitched lily pads. Other lily pads are created from ultra-suede and appliquéd with simple embroidery stitches. Finally, the piece de resistance, the lilies themselves are stitched on Congress Cloth, glued around the edges, and appliquéd onto the main canvas.

The lilies are worked in French flat silk, in small geometric stitches intended to mimic the dabs of paint used by Monet and other Impressionists.

This piece worked up quickly, except for the lilies, and was fun and instructive to do. I changed very little of it, feeling that the designer had done a good job of interpreting the famous paintings.