When last we saw the stole, this is how it looked:

Now that I had a basic design, it was time to play. I started by fighting that fire….the flames didn’t need to be quite so overwhelming (Below):

(Below) I had fussed with the green leaves for a long time, getting each one a perfect arrangement of greens…..so, of course, I then replaced them with more realistic leaves (you can see the difference in the 2 leaves at the bottom).

(Above) The original stone wall behind the flames was replaced. This new wall has a window which looked rather stark when empty. So I added the skeleton of a poppy flower, which breaks up the darkness just enough.

(Below) Which brings us to the spiral at the top of the stole:

This had a pattern of worn wood from Japan (1) and some bright red-and-blue seeds and part of a pomegranate (2 & 3). On the right side, we had a pattern the water left on the sand at low tide (4), and purple eroded stone from Tasmania. And the Chinese lantern in the center. But this can be better…..

(Above) Take out the Japanese wood, add cracked tiles from Sicily. Replace the seeds with a giant lily pad. I found this great image of exposed brick which was actually the perfect shade of purple, and popped it onto the right side. And then…I really became obsessed with the blue curve…..

(Above) We could fill it with the abandoned dwellings of Chico Canyon!

(Above) Even better: images from Mesa Verde National Park!! Gather up bunches of images, turn them blue, then paint them in……but look…..one of them has a strange pattern on the stone at the top of the building. Let’s explore that!

(Above) It’s named honeycomb weathering and I love it! (Yes, too many exclamation points, but I get so excited by this type of discovery.) Anyhow, when I showed the minister who commissioned the stole , she liked the original sand pattern better, so I blended the sand pattern over the honeycombs (Below). Some people might note that I could have just used the original sand pattern, right? Well, sure…. but then I’d have missed finding all that wonderful honeycomb weathering, which may find it’s way into some future work.

(Above) I also added photos of some of her family members, which are above the Chinese Lantern (but which I’ve obscured to protect privacy). And I replaced the larger broken tile segments with much smaller ones.

That’s all for now. More changes next week. Contact me by clicking on dianesavona@aol.com