This embroidery was started two years ago and then left to simmer in a drawer. It has been very nurturing to work on it again, 'like a mother's arms'. These days I'm also very slowly reading Jeanette Winterson - a few pages each day. I get stopped by the wonderful imagery she is able to bring up in my imagination. Here's another passage from her Oranges are not novel:
Magic was very important.
The chalk circle you drew around yourself to protect yourself from elementals and the like.
It's gone out of fashion now, which is a shame.
Of course people will laugh at you, but people laugh at a great many things, so there's no need to take it personally.
Why will it work?
It works because the principle of personal space is always the same. It's a force field around yourself, and as long as our imagining powers are weak, it's useful to have something physical to remind us.
Thanks for the quotation from 'Oranges', been thinking about this subject a lot.
ReplyDeleteThe clos-up picture shows it's true beauty, simplicity.
wow - I love the embroidery. I think I need to work on more handwork.
ReplyDeleteThe stitch used is the back stitch.
ReplyDeleteThe thread is silk twist.
The fabric is a piece of linen that I stretched and painted on with acrylic paint - then overdyed black and threw in the washing machine. It has such a distressed grey and blue colour way - but sets of the simply applied thread beautifully. Thanks for your comments.