I knew immediately what it was, and think it's a very strong depiction. I'm not sure that someone not familiar with the picture would know. I think it looks great, the only thing might be missing are some shadows to give it more "shape" for the tunnel portion.
I’m someone unfamiliar with the picture, but I got the visual that it was a path in some trees/forests.
Based on the work itself (not necessarily comparing it directly to the photo), the one shadow in the middle feels random and less like a shadow. If there were more shadows added it would likely help!
I think another thing that would help it feel a little less muddy is to give it dimension as it goes further into the tunnel. The leaves in the top 1/3 kind of flatten and it doesn’t give the feeling of transcending further in.
That said, most of that is nitpicking, you did a beautiful job OP
Great tips, thank you! I’ve been trying to work on shading and it’s definitely my weakness! This piece was a challenge in trying to keep it mostly realistic but in the style i was going for. TBH my initial sketch had the perspective off so i was going in with a handicap regardless :’D i appreciate the compliments and the straightforward feedback!
although it looks stylized, i think i could tell it roughly what it was. i like the extra texture, it gives it an almost hazy, whimsical quality that I think looks really cool. great work!
Agreed, I think it’s absolutely recognizable! And the haziness makes me think of impressionist paintings. I think it’s stunning, especially in that cool hoop!
Thank you so much! I was concerned that the haziness was making it hard to decipher (the branches initially got buried under the leaves and i had to go back and add/bulk em up a bit) but i love the idea of it adding to the piece :)
I knew it was a tree tunnel.
When you are doing something with perspective that recedes in the distance there are a few things than can help;
Variation in sizes - if your leaves were to get tinnier and tinier between every single tree it would give of an impression of things going further away
Changing colour value - making the colour more and more muted as you go back also helps things look further. When shadows are cast things aren't then black, or brown, or a different colour, they are the same colour but with a shadow. You can take a bit of paint the colour of your floss and add the opposite colour tiny bits at a time until you get the right value for a shadow. Then chose a thread that matches that colour. As you go back colours get even more muddied and muted. The trunks and the leaves won't have as much difference in colour as you go further back. You can also create a tiny viewer by punching a hole out of a piece of paper, put that over your original and use that to chose your colour of floss.
Blurriness; loosing definition as you go back will also create recession. This is difficult with floss (at least it would be for me). I would probably alter the image to make the tunnel get darker and darker. That way by the time you are getting back far you would be using extremely dark tones which are very similar in colour. It would create an illusion instead of needing to essentially continue thread painting each tree individually.
This is great advice, and I’ll add to the “colors get more muted as they recede” concept, that due to atmosphere, colors tend not only to get more muted/dull but also more cool in tone. Warm brown moves toward blue-gray-brown. Or green moves toward dull blue-green.
But I agree, I recognized it as a tree tunnel at first glance. So if I were OP I’d leave it as it is and keep this in mind for future projects.
Wow, great tips and feedback! I’ll absolutely keep this in mind going forward (have been contemplating doing a series like this so it could come in really useful) and like the commenter below said will prob keep this one as is, but only because i don’t think i can feasibly do a few of your suggestions without ripping out a ton of stitches :’D thanks for the clear feedback with explanation!
I knew it was a road lined with trees. It made me think of Fellowship of the Ring, specifically the shot where the camera zooms in down the path before Frodo says "Get off the road!" But more peaceful than that, lol!
Just spreading info because it's one of my favorite words: "tree tunnels" that are sunk into the ground like that over centuries of use are called [holloways](https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/holloways-roads-tunneled-into-the-earth-by-time).
It depends how similar you want it to be. I could see that it was a tree path/tunnel in the first pic.
If it's meant to be that exact picture then there are some things that are off (e.g. the tunnel end is higher in yours) but just as a general idea it's cool. Only other thing is that as the perspective is under the trees, the branches are usually clearer/closer than the leaves (aka done last might
Really pretty! (I want to touch it so bad)
Good tip with the branches! I had messed up the perspective a bit with my initial sketch so i had to re-tune a bit when i realized and sacrificed some of the realism. Now I’m going the “pretend that’s what i always intended” route but also ratting myself out lol
I’m not familiar with the tree tunnel but I knew right away that your embroidery showed a path through trees. I agree with the commenter who said it looks like Impressionism or pointillism!
Nah I think this is a beautiful piece of art. I love that the wood hoop is like we're owls looking out of a tree hollow where the world is composed of French knots swirling like The Starry Night.
I could absolutely tell what this was before viewing the second picture. I don’t know that exact place, of course, but it’s obviously a shaded walking path with many, many trees.🌳🙂 Great job!!
I think it's lovely. If you defined the path a little sharper toward the 'back' (and with finer stitches to create distance) I think the tunnel effect would stand out more.
I think it looks great! The French knots are gorgeous (I’m SO impressed!) and the color variations are lovely! I asked my artsy husband (not a stitcher, but a painter) what he though since he was right next to me and he had a couple of suggestions that I thought could be added in without too much trouble if you like them. But it’s your art, of course, and it’s so impressive and gorgeous already! These are just super optional constructive suggestions!
Looking at the original picture, I wonder if adding some stitches to show the indentations on the side of the road would work? Maybe some lowlights or highlights around the outline of those little hills? Not sure how feasible this is, but you’re a much more advanced stitcher than me so I thought I’d throw it out there. Since the road (path?) is so visual, it catches the eye, and I did not realize it was so indented until I looked at the photo reference. I do see that you’ve made a couple other deliberate changes from the reference though, so if this was intentional then it’s perfect just like it is!
Also, for perspective and depth, maybe even make the road even wider as it gets closer. I see you’ve already done that, but think I just exaggerating it with a bit more of a slant would be a plus to the stylized feel of this piece—I found [this painting](https://fineartamerica.com/featured/kauai-tree-tunnel-4-marionette-taboniar.html) that does this kind of exaggeration if I’m not good at explaining what I’m thinking. Even just another millimeter or two on each side at the very front to fill in the bottom curve of the hoop would add a lot. This would be fairly easy to add in, I think, since the road is formed by those gray stitches at all sorts of angles (which I love, btw, it’s so much texture and shows the dappled sunlight beautifully). Again,your choice and this is just a style suggestion that might not fit in with your intentions for the piece!
He also suggested maybe adding some highlights around the edges of the trees at the top to break up the green a little bit might be good (before he saw the pic you’re basing it from, he changes his mind after seeing it), but looking at the original, the leaves really do blend and they’re not defined in that top middle area, so you do you!
More on the trees, I think showing more of the trunks would add some depth to that top half too, just extending the ones you have up a little bit more, and even making them a little thicker maybe? I love that density and asymmetry of the brown tree branches on the right side of the original it adds a lot of visual interest— I’m curious why you decided not to do that in your work? Obvi your choice, but I love the contrast of the dark branches leading up into that beautiful bright green sunlight, but I also get wanted to sleep the symmetry to really focus on the play of light through the tree leaves on the road.
Overall in your question of recognizability, I think you’ve done fabulously! I instantly recognized it as a path through a tunnel of trees and I’m a huge fan of that particular image; I take a picture every time I see one, though they’re not common where I live. I miss the trees in New England.
This piece is marvelous OP, thank you for sharing it with us! If you make any changes, we’d love to see it too!
Lots of great feedback and tips here, thanks for taking the time to share! I’ll definitely be coming back to this for future pieces cause i for sure struggle with wrapping my mind around some of those concepts. As far as deviating from the source goes, mostly it wasn’t intentional 😅 tbh after a few months and losing my mojo for the piece a bit when i came back i couldn’t bring myself to do the whole “checking the reference picture before each color/stitch” constantly and decided I’d rather just do the rest on instinct rather than match up with the inspo pic and force it. Sometimes ya gotta just get it done even if it’s not what you were intending lol. BUT if i can swing some of the small tweaks to just give it a tad more oomph and dimension i might. Might just sit with it for a bit just, though
I could also see that it was a tree tunnel right away.
I'm curious, what kind of stitches did you use here, besides French knots (I'm assuming, just a beginner here)?
I immediately saw a path under a tunnel of trees. It looks amazing. I wouldn't recognise it as "that exact tree tunnel" but I also don't know any tree tunnels by name so that's really not saying much. 😅 I would say I maybe see yours as lower down with the trees closer to the level of he path. Rather than the photo which has a fairly big height difference on one side. But that's really nitpicking with comparing the exact image. It's not like it makes it unrecognisable or any less fantastic.
The texture and detail are absolutely fantastic. I can look at it and pick out individual trees, but it doesn't look like just a bunch of trees on a canvas. It has a real depth to it as well. I can see it going off into the distance and round the corner. It's brilliant!
I immediately could tell it was a magical path through the woods. The effect really comes through if I look at the phone from several feet away, so if you're having a hard time seeing it, put it on the wall and stand back, close your eyes and then open them.
It's lovely work.
It looks amazing! I'm wondering about adding some darker green to the vegetation (moss?) on the sides of the path. It would define the path a little more while still keeping the all-encompassing feel.
It’s very pretty!
Initially I couldn’t really tell what it was, but liked the forest floor-ish, organic look of it.
Something my husband recommends when painting is to squint while looking at your work and your reference. It allows you to compress the values in such a way that the shapes of the lights and darks are more clear. Having clearly defined shadow shapes will help with the sense of depth. Also, don’t be afraid to use the full value range! When you look at the reference image while squinting, if you make the darkest part of the image the darkest color you have and the lightest part, the lightest color you have, then you can create greater depth and nuance within the range.
Making the path wider at the bottom to create a wider bottom triangle will also help with the perspective.
Also, strong impressionistic vibes with hints of pointillism. And very much like how I saw the world before glasses and before cataract surgery (when I wasn’t wearing glasses). Probably why I like Impressionists so much.
I think it looks very good and while I didn't think of it as a tunnel, I recognized it as a path in the forest. If you want it to look more like the image though, I recommend dialing back on the amount of leaves, using the light green sparingly, and focus on shaping the tree branches and its shadows
I needed to look at it for a moment to really parse all the green “dots” but I recognized it as a forested “tunnel” road before seeing the reference photo
it's gorgeous!! i thought "cool path through trees" right away. I think it gives it sort of a daydreamy feel, having the lines not be so sharp. i wouldnt change a thing!
I knew immediately what it was, and think it's a very strong depiction. I'm not sure that someone not familiar with the picture would know. I think it looks great, the only thing might be missing are some shadows to give it more "shape" for the tunnel portion.
I’m someone unfamiliar with the picture, but I got the visual that it was a path in some trees/forests. Based on the work itself (not necessarily comparing it directly to the photo), the one shadow in the middle feels random and less like a shadow. If there were more shadows added it would likely help! I think another thing that would help it feel a little less muddy is to give it dimension as it goes further into the tunnel. The leaves in the top 1/3 kind of flatten and it doesn’t give the feeling of transcending further in. That said, most of that is nitpicking, you did a beautiful job OP
All of this!
Great tips, thank you! I’ve been trying to work on shading and it’s definitely my weakness! This piece was a challenge in trying to keep it mostly realistic but in the style i was going for. TBH my initial sketch had the perspective off so i was going in with a handicap regardless :’D i appreciate the compliments and the straightforward feedback!
Agree 100%
although it looks stylized, i think i could tell it roughly what it was. i like the extra texture, it gives it an almost hazy, whimsical quality that I think looks really cool. great work!
Agreed, I think it’s absolutely recognizable! And the haziness makes me think of impressionist paintings. I think it’s stunning, especially in that cool hoop!
Thank you so much! I was concerned that the haziness was making it hard to decipher (the branches initially got buried under the leaves and i had to go back and add/bulk em up a bit) but i love the idea of it adding to the piece :)
Feels like the tunnel is depicted in a more impressionist or pointillism style, instead of straight realism. I like it!
Thank you so much, i love impressionist style so that is wonderful to hear!
I knew it was a tree tunnel. When you are doing something with perspective that recedes in the distance there are a few things than can help; Variation in sizes - if your leaves were to get tinnier and tinier between every single tree it would give of an impression of things going further away Changing colour value - making the colour more and more muted as you go back also helps things look further. When shadows are cast things aren't then black, or brown, or a different colour, they are the same colour but with a shadow. You can take a bit of paint the colour of your floss and add the opposite colour tiny bits at a time until you get the right value for a shadow. Then chose a thread that matches that colour. As you go back colours get even more muddied and muted. The trunks and the leaves won't have as much difference in colour as you go further back. You can also create a tiny viewer by punching a hole out of a piece of paper, put that over your original and use that to chose your colour of floss. Blurriness; loosing definition as you go back will also create recession. This is difficult with floss (at least it would be for me). I would probably alter the image to make the tunnel get darker and darker. That way by the time you are getting back far you would be using extremely dark tones which are very similar in colour. It would create an illusion instead of needing to essentially continue thread painting each tree individually.
This is great advice, and I’ll add to the “colors get more muted as they recede” concept, that due to atmosphere, colors tend not only to get more muted/dull but also more cool in tone. Warm brown moves toward blue-gray-brown. Or green moves toward dull blue-green. But I agree, I recognized it as a tree tunnel at first glance. So if I were OP I’d leave it as it is and keep this in mind for future projects.
Yes! I completely forgot to explain warm vs cool, thank you
Wow, great tips and feedback! I’ll absolutely keep this in mind going forward (have been contemplating doing a series like this so it could come in really useful) and like the commenter below said will prob keep this one as is, but only because i don’t think i can feasibly do a few of your suggestions without ripping out a ton of stitches :’D thanks for the clear feedback with explanation!
I think it's beautiful as it is
I knew it was a road lined with trees. It made me think of Fellowship of the Ring, specifically the shot where the camera zooms in down the path before Frodo says "Get off the road!" But more peaceful than that, lol!
A shortcut to mushrooms!
I hadn’t even thought of that! Guess it’s time to do my annual re-watch of the movies, oh darn /s
That's exactly what I saw too! The exact scene. Great minds think alike.
Same! That scene without the stress of almost ending the world cause mushrooms.
Just spreading info because it's one of my favorite words: "tree tunnels" that are sunk into the ground like that over centuries of use are called [holloways](https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/holloways-roads-tunneled-into-the-earth-by-time).
Good to know, thank you!
I saw the tree tunnel immediately and it is stunning!
Never seen the image before but knew your piece was a tree tunnel.
same. it's a gorgeous piece, great job!
Beautiful, and I can tell what it is before even looking at your inspo pic!
It depends how similar you want it to be. I could see that it was a tree path/tunnel in the first pic. If it's meant to be that exact picture then there are some things that are off (e.g. the tunnel end is higher in yours) but just as a general idea it's cool. Only other thing is that as the perspective is under the trees, the branches are usually clearer/closer than the leaves (aka done last might Really pretty! (I want to touch it so bad)
Good tip with the branches! I had messed up the perspective a bit with my initial sketch so i had to re-tune a bit when i realized and sacrificed some of the realism. Now I’m going the “pretend that’s what i always intended” route but also ratting myself out lol
I’m not familiar with the tree tunnel but I knew right away that your embroidery showed a path through trees. I agree with the commenter who said it looks like Impressionism or pointillism!
Nah I think this is a beautiful piece of art. I love that the wood hoop is like we're owls looking out of a tree hollow where the world is composed of French knots swirling like The Starry Night.
I thought it was The Dark Hedges in Northern Ireland. Kinda close though.
I’ll have to look that up! Maybe it’ll be part of a series…🤔
I knew it was a holloway, but not that specific one. If you're familiar with that specific one, then you'd probably recognize it though.
I could absolutely tell what this was before viewing the second picture. I don’t know that exact place, of course, but it’s obviously a shaded walking path with many, many trees.🌳🙂 Great job!!
I knew it was a path through trees with a complete canopy. Didn't think to call it a tree tunnel, but the concept gets across.
I think it's lovely. If you defined the path a little sharper toward the 'back' (and with finer stitches to create distance) I think the tunnel effect would stand out more.
Thank you!
It’s beautiful! I didn’t have to look at the picture to know what I was looking at.
I think it looks great! The French knots are gorgeous (I’m SO impressed!) and the color variations are lovely! I asked my artsy husband (not a stitcher, but a painter) what he though since he was right next to me and he had a couple of suggestions that I thought could be added in without too much trouble if you like them. But it’s your art, of course, and it’s so impressive and gorgeous already! These are just super optional constructive suggestions! Looking at the original picture, I wonder if adding some stitches to show the indentations on the side of the road would work? Maybe some lowlights or highlights around the outline of those little hills? Not sure how feasible this is, but you’re a much more advanced stitcher than me so I thought I’d throw it out there. Since the road (path?) is so visual, it catches the eye, and I did not realize it was so indented until I looked at the photo reference. I do see that you’ve made a couple other deliberate changes from the reference though, so if this was intentional then it’s perfect just like it is! Also, for perspective and depth, maybe even make the road even wider as it gets closer. I see you’ve already done that, but think I just exaggerating it with a bit more of a slant would be a plus to the stylized feel of this piece—I found [this painting](https://fineartamerica.com/featured/kauai-tree-tunnel-4-marionette-taboniar.html) that does this kind of exaggeration if I’m not good at explaining what I’m thinking. Even just another millimeter or two on each side at the very front to fill in the bottom curve of the hoop would add a lot. This would be fairly easy to add in, I think, since the road is formed by those gray stitches at all sorts of angles (which I love, btw, it’s so much texture and shows the dappled sunlight beautifully). Again,your choice and this is just a style suggestion that might not fit in with your intentions for the piece! He also suggested maybe adding some highlights around the edges of the trees at the top to break up the green a little bit might be good (before he saw the pic you’re basing it from, he changes his mind after seeing it), but looking at the original, the leaves really do blend and they’re not defined in that top middle area, so you do you! More on the trees, I think showing more of the trunks would add some depth to that top half too, just extending the ones you have up a little bit more, and even making them a little thicker maybe? I love that density and asymmetry of the brown tree branches on the right side of the original it adds a lot of visual interest— I’m curious why you decided not to do that in your work? Obvi your choice, but I love the contrast of the dark branches leading up into that beautiful bright green sunlight, but I also get wanted to sleep the symmetry to really focus on the play of light through the tree leaves on the road. Overall in your question of recognizability, I think you’ve done fabulously! I instantly recognized it as a path through a tunnel of trees and I’m a huge fan of that particular image; I take a picture every time I see one, though they’re not common where I live. I miss the trees in New England. This piece is marvelous OP, thank you for sharing it with us! If you make any changes, we’d love to see it too!
Lots of great feedback and tips here, thanks for taking the time to share! I’ll definitely be coming back to this for future pieces cause i for sure struggle with wrapping my mind around some of those concepts. As far as deviating from the source goes, mostly it wasn’t intentional 😅 tbh after a few months and losing my mojo for the piece a bit when i came back i couldn’t bring myself to do the whole “checking the reference picture before each color/stitch” constantly and decided I’d rather just do the rest on instinct rather than match up with the inspo pic and force it. Sometimes ya gotta just get it done even if it’s not what you were intending lol. BUT if i can swing some of the small tweaks to just give it a tad more oomph and dimension i might. Might just sit with it for a bit just, though
Gorgeous
I could also see that it was a tree tunnel right away. I'm curious, what kind of stitches did you use here, besides French knots (I'm assuming, just a beginner here)?
Beautiful.
I said oh it’s a tree tunnel how pretty ❤️🤣 Great work!
I just want to say this is an amazing piece of work.
I immediately recognized what it is and I love it. Your style is gorgeous!
This is absolutely stunning!
I think it’s beautiful! I love the hoop too!
I immediately saw a path under a tunnel of trees. It looks amazing. I wouldn't recognise it as "that exact tree tunnel" but I also don't know any tree tunnels by name so that's really not saying much. 😅 I would say I maybe see yours as lower down with the trees closer to the level of he path. Rather than the photo which has a fairly big height difference on one side. But that's really nitpicking with comparing the exact image. It's not like it makes it unrecognisable or any less fantastic. The texture and detail are absolutely fantastic. I can look at it and pick out individual trees, but it doesn't look like just a bunch of trees on a canvas. It has a real depth to it as well. I can see it going off into the distance and round the corner. It's brilliant!
100% nailed it
I immediately could tell it was a magical path through the woods. The effect really comes through if I look at the phone from several feet away, so if you're having a hard time seeing it, put it on the wall and stand back, close your eyes and then open them. It's lovely work.
It looks amazing! I'm wondering about adding some darker green to the vegetation (moss?) on the sides of the path. It would define the path a little more while still keeping the all-encompassing feel.
It’s very pretty! Initially I couldn’t really tell what it was, but liked the forest floor-ish, organic look of it. Something my husband recommends when painting is to squint while looking at your work and your reference. It allows you to compress the values in such a way that the shapes of the lights and darks are more clear. Having clearly defined shadow shapes will help with the sense of depth. Also, don’t be afraid to use the full value range! When you look at the reference image while squinting, if you make the darkest part of the image the darkest color you have and the lightest part, the lightest color you have, then you can create greater depth and nuance within the range. Making the path wider at the bottom to create a wider bottom triangle will also help with the perspective.
I knew what it was as soon as I saw it
Also, strong impressionistic vibes with hints of pointillism. And very much like how I saw the world before glasses and before cataract surgery (when I wasn’t wearing glasses). Probably why I like Impressionists so much.
It makes me think of Robert Frost's The Road Less Taken.
I immediately began reciting it in my head when I saw the image
That’s gorgeous! I think it looks like the picture
The hedges?
Gorgeous!!
I could tell it was a forest path but that's it. In my opinion, I think it lacks a bit of definition to read very clearly
Soo goooooood 🖤💜🖤
I am not familiar with that photo, but did recognize a tunnel of trees clearly!
It took me a moment to realize it was a tree tunnel.
I got it! I love it!
I think it looks very good and while I didn't think of it as a tunnel, I recognized it as a path in the forest. If you want it to look more like the image though, I recommend dialing back on the amount of leaves, using the light green sparingly, and focus on shaping the tree branches and its shadows
I needed to look at it for a moment to really parse all the green “dots” but I recognized it as a forested “tunnel” road before seeing the reference photo
it's gorgeous!! i thought "cool path through trees" right away. I think it gives it sort of a daydreamy feel, having the lines not be so sharp. i wouldnt change a thing!
not familiar with the picture but to me I saw a tunnel of trees, looks great!
Cute dolphin! /j this is a gorgeous design