Unintentional

...well, it was.  I was working on a completely different piece, when I was left with a long bit of red/orange thread, too long to discard.  So I went to work on a second piece, and found myself finishing it almost before I knew what I was doing. 

Yes, it's another monoprint, much looser than the work I've been showing you.  It didn't originally have the red circle, but it needed something, and that seemed to be what it needed.  The stitch is a lot looser, too, mostly straight stitch but with some cross stitch at top and bottom.  Once again, I've stitched in order to support the brush strokes of the paint, for the most part.  And I've only used one colour of thread....couldn't be simpler.

It strikes me that all these pieces are connected by this idea of simplicity, of paring everything down, not adding more than is absolutely necessary.  I initially intended to add stitch to that red circle, but decided that it simply didn't need it; it's a strong enough mark to stand as it is, without cluttering it up with stitch. 

The actual piece is a bit wider than I'm showing you here.  It was my intention to crop it, but I haven't yet cut anything.  Which is just as well, because I have the feeling that I need to include a bit more on that right side.  The bottom mark continues along into white space, with no stitch.  It gives the piece an airiness, a sense of space, that this image doesn't give.  So I've learned something today.  Less is only more when it works.

And now I need to go back to the first piece I was working on, but that will have to wait til tomorrow.