Temple of 1000 Cranes Revealed

Temple of 1000 Cranes Unstitched

Leigh Richardson has just revealed her latest series of eight canvases at the January 2011 TNNA show in Long Beach, California.  I am stitching the first in the series of what Leigh calls "fantasy pagodas."

Note the Five Cranes on the Roof

My design is called Temple of 1000 Cranes.  You can see the rest of the series on the Leigh website.
http://www.leighdesigns.com/Grp714x.html

Another Angle

These are large designs.  They are all 14 inches high and 11 wide on 18 count canvas.  They are on sage green mono needlepoint canvas and because they are all dream landscapes of Asian-themed temples, each fades away into mist at the edges of the design.

Rocks and Carved Stone Steps

Because of the size, I can't scan the entire canvas but the photos above are snippets of what I have stitched so far.  I've been amazed at how effective fairly simple and common stitches are on 1000 Cranes.  My stitch guide for this piece will be available the end of the month.  The building, rock and vegetation stitches can all be used on other designs in the series, although you may have to slant the stitches another way, depending on how your fantasy pagoda is painted.  I also think the Foo Dog Gateway will need different building stitches than the ones I used since it is built differently than the rest.  In all cases you will need to add your own touches.  The stitch guide isn't totally transferable to the other canvases.

Stay tuned for me to finish and post an overall photo here.