A textural exploration from Southern Europe

The unfolding of the August design and a peak behind the curtains of the upcoming book "Travel the World Through The Eye of A Needle"

Hi there!

Can you ever take too many pictures of narrow entryways that are filled with plants?

I don’t think so. But that’s my opinion, haha.

The thing is…

I LOVE taking photos. And to observe the surrounding for beauty in the odd corners is how I relax, refuel and feel the most present and connected with the place I’m at.

Ideally the photo gets translated into a sketch whenever I can take the time for it. But sometimes the image stays on my camera roll waiting for a serendipitous future re-discovery.

This is exactly what happened with this month’s embroidery design.

I took the original photo (on the left), while we still lived in Montenegro two years ago. At the time I couldn’t imagine that it would take me TWO years to draw it out - but better late then never, as the saying goes.

There’s something special about narrow entry ways that are filled to the brim with plants.

It brings me SO MUCH SUMMER vibes. And considering what a rainy summer we’ve had in Europe this year… it didn’t take more than three seconds to settle on which image to use as I set out on a trip down memory lane earlier last month.

A textural exploration

This “Summer in the south”, design invited for a lot of textural exploration as I tested various techniques before deciding on the one.

It was especially the right side of the design that needed multiple trials.

1. First I stitched green contours around some of the larger leaves with the idea to fill them with satin stitches after (bottom right)

2. I then tried some layered straight stitches to avoid the contour-step and save time (top, bottom right)

But none of the versions felt “punchy” enough to do the design justice.

So, I decided to try the slow route of embroidering single stranded black contours around all the larger size leaves (why does appeal to slow always happen to me?!).

MUCH better.

The black contours enhanced the contrast and made the area feel more vivid and dynamic, contrasting the textures to the other “types of plants” (some stitched with French knots and other with overlapping full-stranded straight stitches) better.

I proceeded to fill all the contoured leaves, PLUS went the extra mile to fill the in-between-spaces with a darker nuance of green to add further depth (if I’d re-stitch it I’d choose an even darker shade…).

You may think I’m over the top, but that’s how I operate. With most things actually!

If I’m not fully satisfied, I will try and experiment, and try some more until I feel excited about the result.

Sometimes it will take 2 minutes and other times 2 weeks… and perhaps that’s part of the art too?

Both the flashes of genius when you get it right immediately, as well as the extended periods of seemingly “no advancement”, when truly the art continues to evolve and grow in your mind and heart… 💜

Download your own version and stitch along the Summer in the south pattern too!

• C&E Academy members can download the pattern immediately inside the “Pattern Program” HERE

• Paying Readers of the Petronella Art Magazine, can find it under your “bonuses” tab VIA THIS LINK

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Speaking of travel photography, sketching and embroidery….

I am creating an art-book!

But not just any art-book…

A pocket-size art book for creative travel enthusiasts, curated from my Instagram feed (Petronella.Art), so that you can bring inspiring architectural stitchery, art and travel stories with you in your pocket OFFLINE too.

Actually… I’ll tell you a story…

I haven’t posted to Instagram at all for 1.5 years and very limited since 2020. I fell out of love with the app for reasons I go into more detail on in the Mother-Artist column that I write for my other publication “Follow Your Gut”. And I didn’t feel good asking people to follow me in a place I no longer wanted to be…

But it still felt sad to leave all the years worth of work and 1000+ posts to fade into oblivion.

Or so I thought….

With an open mind and curious heart, I quickly put together a short video to share about the physical translation of my Instagram feed (and actually make a post on there!) and the response was… mind blowing!

I had a quite emotional morning yesterday seeing that I wasn’t completely forgotten?

So, I want to extend a thank you to anyone who has followed me there through the years and who are here too - thank you!! 💖

In case you missed it, this is the video I posted:

And the response after only 11hrs…

I truly believe that art enriches life.

Whether it is practiced oneself or indulged in as a way to expand the horizon and spark reflections, art is as necessary to the creative soul as a racket to the tennis player.

If you agree with this sentiment, I warmly invite you to click “notify me about launch” on the campaign over on Kickstarter (the crowdfunding platform I’ll use for the project).

Direct link to the Kickstarter HERE

Ps. When you click it will look like this 👇

Pps. I know it can feel overwhelming with an extra step (so sorry!), but following the campaign on the Kickstarter page as opposed to just through the newsletter, will massively help the project reach funding once it’s ready to launch. 🚀 (Thank You 🥰)

Kickstarter functions on an all or nothing basis, which is why community efforts to bring it to life matters 🙏🏼.

Have a brilliant Sunday,

Warmly, Elin xx

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Roundup of the links;

1. Pattern of the month through the C&E Academy

2. Pattern of the month as the bonus for paying Magazine readers

3. Pre-launch of Kickstarter the Campaign

4. Browse 35+ embroidery courses or 100+ embroidery patterns