Festive Fun and Frolics - Merry Christmas! xxx

 It's that festive time again - and I'm late with a Christmas post! *tsk!* Even with everything closed in a pandemic, with no guests or visitors or events to attend it would appear that I am STILL not organised at all! 

    The end of the year brought a flurry of activity, commissions and orders, which was a little unexpected and entirely fabulous. Commissions CAN be a nightmare, but experience has made me picky and I choose the clients I know I can enjoy working with. It's been a sheer delight to meet some completely gorgeous people and to know that my work adorns their walls (and in some cases, themselves!) and makes them happy. I can't tell you the joy that brings me! 

    I've not had a chance to work on my usual Christmas as Yule pieces, with the exception of my "Spirit of Hope" Yule exhibition piece, and I never share commission work without permission, so the offering I have for you to celebrate the season is a series of little illustrations I made for my Husband's Christmas cards from the cats, Father Christmas and, oh yes - me! I am hoping, in the months ahead, to make this blog a lot more interactive, with more tutorials, product information, work processes and the like, similar to my old blog site. For now, though, I offer you my kitties in Christmas mode which I hope very much that you will enjoy. 

    Much love to all this festive season. May light and love follow all of you this coming year. Stay safe and well - Shroo xxx

"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:

Christmas Wishes!

Wishing everyone a very merry Christmas and all good things for the coming year! xxxx