"Spirit of Hope"

 There's nothing like setting yourself a challenge. I mean, OBVIOUSLY it would be a smoother life without hurdles and landslides and zombie invasions, but WHERE would the FUN be? Eh?

    My entry for the new exhibition at the Cultural Activities Centre in Temple, Texas could have been anything... a watercolour, a nice acrylic canvas...another inked piece... Anything. But as I sat staring at my sketch book that little tingling, nagging feeling started on the back of my neck, just below the hairline there... Just.....there..... Yeah. I know that feeling - it's my muse saying hello and feeding an idea directly into the art centre of my brain, an idea that I know will have no wiggle room at all. Once it's embedded I have no choice. 

    "You're doing this with textiles -- get out your needles and threads and settle in for the long haul!"

    So...yeah.I went digging. It's surprising how many embroidery silks you can have and STILL need to order 150 more from Amazon (they were an awesome bargain!) 

    The brief was to represent belief in Christmas. As a pagan, I wanted my piece to be a little more historically and culturally inclusive without offending or challenging other peoples' faiths. I chose to focus on the bringing of light into dark places, the lighting of candles, the burning of bonfires, an idea which transcends time and culture. Light signifies the hope that our species carries inside each of us: that the cold, austere dark nights of winter will eventually pass and become the warm light and abundant growth of Spring and Summer. That life replaces apparent death. That the earth itself is reborn and each of us with it. Even our fancy schmancy "modern times" and the educated rationality that abounds now doesn't fully banish our fear of the night and our longing for reassurance that the hope of light triumphs over the abyss of darkness.

    This piece is about light, hope and happiness. It's my belief that finding the bright and shining path will guide me through the blackness. This is bold of colour, wild of style - a freehand embroidery following the same processes as any of my art pieces...a concept with minimal form that follows its own path. The seed beads are sewn individually and the whole thing is stitched over my hand painted design on a piece of reclaimed cotton cloth. 'Nuff said - here be the finished working along with a few potentially useful close-ups: