Mount Fuji Seen from the Expressway
Mount Fuji Seen from the Expressway
While driving on the expressway, Mount Fuji suddenly appeared in front of me. Clouds were lying across the middle of the mountain, yet the summit was clearly visible, standing against a wide blue sky. The scene gave me a strange impression — distant, yet present — and that feeling became the starting point of this work.
About the Artwork
- Size: 52 × 41 cm
- Colors: 51
- Stitches: 806,426
I have created several photo embroidery works featuring Mount Fuji before, but this time I focused especially on the layers of air and the spread of light. The challenge was how to express the distance between the mountain and the foreground — the road and the cars — using thread.
Technical Considerations
For the sky, I carefully adjusted the thread colors so that no visible seams would appear between color transitions. By arranging multiple shades of blue, I aimed to create a smooth and natural gradation.
At the summit of Mount Fuji, special attention was given to the combination of threads, especially in the transition from white to blue. In hindsight, the color of the mountain surface could have been slightly closer to the sky tone to enhance the sense of distance.
The withered trees in the mountain area required careful thread selection, as the impression differed between the image data and the embroidery data. The concrete walls and the road share very similar colors, so subtle color differences and stitch directions were used to separate their textures.
For the cars in the foreground, I paid particular attention to the windows. I avoided flat tones by introducing slight color variations to suggest reflected light on the glass.
Reflections After Completion
Choosing the color of Mount Fuji is always difficult. This time, I noticed that the mountain seemed to blend into the sky.
After completing the work, I researched this phenomenon and learned about Rayleigh scattering — the scattering of light by tiny particles in the atmosphere, which causes blue light to become more prominent. Distant objects tend to merge with the color of the sky, but Mount Fuji is so large that it never becomes completely blue.
For me, whose theme is “Expressing Light with Thread,” this realization was an important lesson. Understanding light not only intuitively but also scientifically may lead to greater realism in future photo embroidery works.
Fabric Choice and New Challenges
In this piece, I experimented with urban twill instead of the felt I usually use. While the fabric offered good color vibrancy, its softness caused slight misalignment during embroidery. As a result, I felt it was not ideal for framed works using my conventional embroidery methods.
However, this experiment provided valuable insight. Exploring fabric characteristics, along with thread and light, is an essential part of my ongoing research.
This fleeting moment — seeing Mount Fuji from the expressway — has now become a single photo embroidery piece. Each work brings new discoveries, and those discoveries quietly guide the next one.
For additional technical details and production notes (in Japanese), please refer to the gallery page below:
