Stone Bunny

I have a bunny sculpture I inherited from my mother-in-law that has graced my patio flower garden for several years. At times there have been live bunnies nearby, contrasting with this cast concrete one, so I always think of it as the stone bunny. (Stay with me here... there's a connection coming.)

I started embroidering in January of 2022. I was busy making a lot of crocheted gifts for Christmas when I felt an urge to try thread painting. I'd been inspired by some stitching I'd discovered purely by accident online and suddenly wanted to give it a go. This is my usual M.O. To put it positively, I love learning new things.

Aside from some clumsy attempts at adding flowers and butterflies to my elephant bell-bottoms in high school a hundred years ago, I've never done much more with a needle than embroidering eyes on a few crocheted dolls. I've had a lifetime of creative experience, however, including four decades painting landscapes. (http://landscapesinpastel.blogspot.com/) 

So when I picked up a hoop this year I felt mixed. I could look like I was the real thing, but I really wasn't. 

Let me see if I can explain. I knew my way around the landscape in terms of composition, contrast, balance, values, colors, lines, edges, details, etc., but I was completely ignorant of how to embroider. I knew what I wanted to do with the thread but I didn't know how to make it happen.  

My first attempts were clumsy but I was totally hooked from the beginning on stitching. I loved the contemplative mindspace, the little pop of the needle through the taught cloth, the way my breathing would marry with my movements when it was going well. 

Yet I was frustrated at times, too. Knots. How I loathe knots!  Loose tension. Sagging satin stitches. Uneven edges around the circle. Awkward blends. "Beginner mistake," I would mutter to myself. I often fell victim to the lack of planning. I'd leave sections unresolved in the drawing stages, thinking I'd just make it happen when I got there. It didn't often work in a painting--even less so in stitching. I'd inexpertly wander around trying to make a section look "right," whatever that was, perfecting the art of unpicking stitching and wasting valuable thread simultaneously.

One morning as I sat on my patio praying, I looked down at that stone bunny among the blossoms and realized I felt like that. I looked pretty real in some ways. When I posted a stitching I would choose the photos that made it look the best, but in real life things weren't as good. Just as the gray sculpture looked like a bunny in some ways, I looked like an embroiderer in some ways. 

Thus the name of my embroidery studio and this blog was conceived. 

I'm beginning to feel more less stony each time I complete another hoop. I haven't kept one yet, since my friends have generously encouraged me in this new endeavor. When they asked to buy them we swapped gift cards for the unhooped stitchings. I'm blessed with the potential to purchase needed thread and supplies without having to hold back and examine the budget quite so closely.

Now I'm slowly beginning to feel like I might market these as artworks in time. I'm in no hurry to do that yet, since I'm still learning so much from each one. Since I haven't kept any of them I thought it would be wise to past the photos here as a record for myself, if nothing else. 

I'd also like to record my simple embroidering discoveries here for those who want to try this fascinating art, so you might not have to learn the hard way. I taught painting to adult students for 22 years. I guess that impulse dies hard. 

So the journey begins to be recorded. Thank you for going along with me!