I have a beautiful collection of children's books which I hold dear. This design originated from my desire to stitch the drawings which are the end papers of, one of my favorite books, The Lady and the Lion, retold and illustrated by, the exquisitely talented artist, Laurel Long. When I first opened that book and saw those drawings, I just wanted to stitch them. However, in my world stitching two 8" by 10" pieces would take forever, so I re-designed the layout and put as many of the animals as possible into one picture, and added birds from another favorite illustrator's book, The Full Belly Bowl by Wendy Andersen-Halperin, along with some flowers and fruits to make the border very colorful. The image above, four years later, is the result.
This is a one of a kind piece, which I did for my own artistic soul, never to be duplicated. I will not be making a kit for it or any charts or any other offering. I didn't write down the colors I used or any other information; I just stitched. And reveled in making the black and white line drawing come to life with my needle and threads.
My hope is that someday this piece will enjoy a home in a world class museum, as part of a treasured needle arts collection.
When most people look at this piece, they see a rich vibrant, living world that is happy and peaceful. A riot of color and abundance. When I look at it, I see 4 years of my life; the good times and the rough times. I know where I was when I was stitching certain sections of it. It came with me on all my airplane trips home to see my family, when I had to sit on a plane for 6 hours (which I've never been good at) and instead of worrying the whole way, I could stitch. Stitching this piece was my therapy through my husband's heart surgery, a dear friend's strokes, and the loss of my wonderful father-in-law. This process was one of wonder to me... that somehow, out of those difficult times, I could create something of great beauty. This is my masterpiece. I call it Elysium, which means a place of perfect happiness.
This is a one of a kind piece, which I did for my own artistic soul, never to be duplicated. I will not be making a kit for it or any charts or any other offering. I didn't write down the colors I used or any other information; I just stitched. And reveled in making the black and white line drawing come to life with my needle and threads.
My hope is that someday this piece will enjoy a home in a world class museum, as part of a treasured needle arts collection.
When most people look at this piece, they see a rich vibrant, living world that is happy and peaceful. A riot of color and abundance. When I look at it, I see 4 years of my life; the good times and the rough times. I know where I was when I was stitching certain sections of it. It came with me on all my airplane trips home to see my family, when I had to sit on a plane for 6 hours (which I've never been good at) and instead of worrying the whole way, I could stitch. Stitching this piece was my therapy through my husband's heart surgery, a dear friend's strokes, and the loss of my wonderful father-in-law. This process was one of wonder to me... that somehow, out of those difficult times, I could create something of great beauty. This is my masterpiece. I call it Elysium, which means a place of perfect happiness.