To the beautiful belongs an endless variety. It is seen not only in symmetry and elegance of form, in youth and health, but is often quite as fully apparent in decrepit old age. It is found in the cottage of the peasant as well as the palace of kings.
George Caleb Bingham
The needlework project displayed above is an example of blackwork embroidery. Historically, this type of stitching was done on garments in England during the reign of Henry VIII. The earliest forms of blackwork employed counted stitches that produced geometric patterns. I enjoy stitching these pieces because they are visually very structured while conveying tremendous motion. As an artist I struggle to bring "looseness" into my work. Oftentimes, the simple addition of a few quick strokes will bring life to a painting. Blackwork, however, reminds me of the beauty of symmetry. Every painting must have an underlying organization in order to be successful. Form, light, even texture within the painting has to conform to a degree of symmetry. Sometimes, as in the case of blackwork, that perfect design is all that is needed ~ other times a bit of chaos is needed. I guess that is why when royalty adorned their clothing with blackwork they capped their ensemble with a bejeweled crown! Yin and yang!
