Embroidery: Pink Hibiscus

All artists dream of finding a unique voice.  I found mine in 2007, but I started on the path of discovery long before then.  When I was 12, my mother taught me how to do a basic embroidery stem stitch.  I disappeared into my room for a while and returned with this denim patch.  It was the 70’s after all!

I immediately developed a passion for embroidery and continued to create patches for several years.

 Later on I moved to tablecloths.  Here’s a photo of one I did with a tropical fish theme for my wonderful sister-in-law Stephanie.

When computers became available I started to experiment with digital collages.   But I missed embroidery.  So, I decided to combine the two.  I start with original photos, drawings and paintings.  Then, I create a digital collage using Photodeluxe.  I print that on a piece of linen and then embroider on top of it. 

Here’s an example from my first collection – Flower Power.  It’s called Pink Hibiscus.  The flowers are from the Queens Botanical Garden.  They were very tall and the petals were huge – probably six inches across.  So, they flopped around in the wind.  I tried to capture that quality in the piece. 

And in case you were wondering, here’s what the watercolor looked like before I combined the images.  I fell in love the color palate with its subtle shades of pink. 

In fact, the final piece sort of reminds me of my favorite Georgia O’Keefe painting at the Met – Black Iris. 

http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/69.278.1

Ciao
PJ

(c) 2011 PJ Lehrer