I did double duty last week--working almost full time and studying Japanese embroidery part time with my wonderful teacher Karen Plater. I rather like it--perhaps I need to be busier. (Although I think my hubby would kill me and sometimes I wonder what's slipping through the cracks here at work, and by Thursday I was pretty well exhausted, so perhaps not a good idea.) I was able to focus on stitching while at the studio and work while at work--this is a new "skill" for me and it's welcome. More on the class to come.
On my way to class each day, I passed this gorgeous iris.
It seemed perfect to me to set the mood for the embroidery.
A flower whose embroidered depictions always surprised me is the columbine. I've always been fascinated by its dimensionality and depth--those long trailing cones off the back of the flower. Our wild columbine all face downward so what you see are those backs.
But when I saw these columbine flowers in a neighbor's yard, I understood. They were sitting face-on to me and I can now see the flowers I've seen in Elizabethan designs.
I'm fascinated.
