Third Times the Charm??

 We are having another beautiful autumn day and, since I ran the necessary errands yesterday, I was free today to begin the "turkey" drop cloth pillow. I gathered up some of the supplies I thought I would need and got started.

I started by drawing a pattern which, as the process went on, had more than one body change. Each time I looked at it, it just didn't look right so I tweaked but I do have to remember that there will be stitching around all of the pieces and areas the need to be delineated so it is hard to really see what it will look like at the end. I finally had to stop "tweaking" and "go with it"!

I really wasn't sure how the color was applied on the inspiration so I thought I would start with very watered down paint and hope for a watercolor look.

No matter how much I watered down the paint I kept getting a solid appearance...not to mention the drop cloth being DRENCHED and taking forever to dry! So, a failure on attempt one!

Then I got the brilliant idea that maybe I could add the color to more closely resemble the inspiration with my Tim Holtz inks so...attempt #2.

That was closer but because of some kind of coating on the drop cloth-or so I assume-the inks just sat on the surface and rubbed off every time I touched it. I don't honestly know if they would ever dry or not so, for my purposes, attempt #2 was another failure!

My next thought was dry brushing with very little paint. It wasn't a complete success by any means but, I think I can live with it.

And this is where I am right now...and I am done for today! I might add some depth with the ink to certain areas tomorrow before stitching this onto the pillow front and then zipping up the rest-we shall see. I am not entirely in love with this thing right now but I do think once the stitching gets added to define the areas, I will like it a bit more. 

I'm also thinking of the stripes that are on the inspiration. On the jack-o-lantern pillow I painted the stripes but they were thicker. I am thinking of possibly just doing these with a Sharpie. If I don't like it I can always paint over it.

And so I am done for today. Thought I would post this now so you can see where it is going. I sure wish you could give me some ideas. I just know that one of you knows exactly how the inspiration was done-sure wish you could share as I am stumped. But, I will finish this no matter what and we'll see if I even got close.

Stay safe and stay tuned.