Spring and Persephone
When I was a child someone gave me a book of Greek Myths. I loved that book but most of all I loved reading the story of Persephone descending into Hades for the winter and returning to the world above to bring spring with her. I think it’s a beautiful story to explain the seasons. This year, after what has felt like a long dark winter, with hints of spring in the air I decided to stitch myself a Persephone.
She began from a drawing I did of a winter fairy at our local midwinter Montol festival a couple of years ago which was crossed with a sketch of a Hungarian traditional costume. The original had antlers in her hair so it wasn’t difficult to imagine branches and gradually the branches grew some green leaves. The Hungarian costume was much more colourful but I wanted to work in soft greens with very little colour.
I had originally decided to use my beautiful weeks dye works threads but I had to rearrange my workspace over Christmas and I obviously put them somewhere ‘safe’ , so couldn’t find them at all! So instead I have used very soft DMC greens. Where I have worked with two strands I have sometimes blended two similar colours together. In other places I have just used a single strand and a number 9 crewel needle. I love working with one strand, even though it can be a slow process, because it feels more like a drawn line and is always a little less perfect.
I outlined her cape using a slightly darker green and split stitch but once it was stitched it was difficult to see the edge so I added a line of dark green using a single strand just along the edge to give a shadow. You can see it in the third picture. The pomegranates are stitched using long short stitch (although not the neatest long short stitch!) to give the colour gradient, all using a single strand for a touch of delicacy.
I am going to add some grasses and leaves around her and then I will start work on creating a pattern for her. You do need a good light (or a sunny window!) to work on tiny details but I find it so satisfying. She is designed to fit into an oval flexi hoop but I think I will stitch the second one to be framed in a small wooden rectangular frame and then write a post about framing embroidery.
I have a feeling that my work this year will be very seasonal after a year of lock downs and limited time outdoors as we, hopefully, head towards a little bit more freedom.