When Louise Smith was a teen, she saw an artist working with silks, threads and fabrics to create a lovely piece.
The British native was intrigued and tucked the image in the back of her mind to do at a later date.
Five years ago, the Vancouver resident plucked out the idea and made the time to teach herself about the craft.
"I was ready for the creative challenge." she said.
Smith honed her technique by watching YouTube videos, practicing on a cheap sewing machine and "making tons of mistakes," she said.
"I wasn't sure how it was going to work out at the start so I just kept trying over and over until I got something that I liked," she said.
Since then, Smith has made about 40 fibre arts pieces and entered eight of them into last year's Positively Petite exhibit, an annual display of 2D and 3D miniature creations at Coquitlam's Place des Arts.
For the 2013 show that opens next week, Smith has eight new offerings that will focus on nature and fruit themes, each of them measuring 3x4 inches.
Smith said the mixed media exhibition is unique as it gathers an array of talent at the arts hub, with more than 40 artists showing their tiny work.
Smith especially loves it when viewers do double-takes of her pieces. "I'll watch someone say, 'Did you notice it was thread?' A lot get tricked by it because it's so subtle. People can be fooled that it's a painting but the thread really brings out the sheen and catches the light."
Also opening at Place des Arts next Thursday is a new collection of colour photographs by Marina Crawford. Her ... still life in Vancouver... features pictures of Vancouver neighbourhoods snapped over a decade.
As well, Danaca Ackerson will open her Botticelli Remix/Voyage Allégorique series. Her oil on wood scenes are inspired from her artist residency three years ago at La Macina di San Cresci, in the Chianti region of Tuscany.
Meanwhile, holiday shoppers can get ahead with their lists by visiting Place des Arts' Christmas Boutique, which opens Nov. 12. Handmade, one-of-a-kind gifts are available, with proceeds from sales supporting local artists and the Maillardville centre.
Exhibiting artists will be in attendance at the opening reception on Nov. 14 at 7 p.m. at Place des Arts (1120 Brunette Ave., Coquitlam). For more information, call 604-664-1636.
