Sailing Lessons, Lake Mission Viejo - thread painting by fiber artist Loretta Alvarado

California Coastal Series

Sailing Lessons

Given the amount of detail, particularly in the houses, this was a very technically difficult project to create. In total, it probably took about 200 hours to make this piece. You can see some of that detail in the two closeup photos of the houses in progress. Every tiny window and door had to be painstakingly added one at a time. What made this piece particularly difficult was that some of the trees and plants were behind the houses and some were in front. And I had to be careful to add each of the houses in the correct order. So each layer had to be carefully added on.

Sitting out on the patio of a favorite restaurant at Lake Mission Viejo one afternoon I watched as a group of would-be sailors were getting a lesson. There were several boats out that day and they were all gracefully tacking back and forth on the lake. It was a perfect Southern California day. I started shooting photos with my phone. The one below was my favorite of the bunch.