The Exemplary 2025
Honorable Mention, Professional Orginal

Ruby is an evolution of sketches and ideas that grew and developed over time. What began as a series of caricature-like sketches of various people, led to a series of potential designs. Out of the many faces, the first that I went on to develop was Ruby. I was drawn to her attitude and irreverently playful nature and wanted to develop that. Below are the steps to develop the piece – from sketch to color rendering, to the painted canvas – all done myself. After sitting for a few years, and recognizing that the NAN challenge was “Ruby,” I knew that I needed to resurrect the idea(s) and finish her.

When I had the canvas done and ready, the edginess of the design was incorporated into the shading and colors in the face, and I wanted to keep some of this without being beholden to each area. I chose to use a single thread (ThreadworX) with light coverage to stitch the majority of the face, letting the canvas shading come through, but softening the hard edges of the paint. Where I wanted her facial features to dominate, I stitched those areas with more canvas coverage and threads that came more forward. At the same time, I wanted to emphasize the eyes, lips, teeth, and makeup – and, of course, her full red hair. For the background, I chose a darning pattern and a more muted green to complement the colors of the star of the show. I used a bit of sparkle in her eyes as well as lips and some in her rosy cheeks though downplayed from her eyes and lips. I chose to understitch her hair so as to cover more of the canvas before I added the “curls” of various values and shades of floss. To keep her hair in place, I used invisible thread and Japanese holding stitches.