Beaded Blossoms

Some years ago, while walking through a quaint and arty area in Montreal, I spotted a painting of an owl in the window of an art gallery. It was largely made up of metal parts, but what really stopped me in my tracks was the clock face that was its pot belly.

That owl inspired me. For hours I found myself thinking about how I could translate the idea into embroidery. By the time I got home from Canada, I knew exactly what I wanted to do, and the moment I was over my jet lag, I sat down and drew an owl with Jacobean flowers in its belly.

It started me on a most enjoyable journey, one that resulted in a book of African animals stitched in the colors of their native landscape with crewel embroidery techniques. Among the many stitches I used for texture, I added beads for