Beyond the backyard of my condo, after a narrow strip of birches and hemlocks, there’s a large field that slops downhill from west to east. A beautiful big field that’s home to foxes, rabbits, and clumps of forsythias—breathtaking when they bloom every April.
“The far field,” as I think of it, belongs to the people whose house is at the top of the hill. I’ve often wondered if they will ever sell the field, if it will be developed and the peaceful view ruined. But in the 16 years I’ve lived here, the field has been left alone. They mow it now and then, and a few years back installed a large solar panel that partly obstructs my view (but not theirs). I’ve gotten used to seeing the solar panel, though there are still times when I wish it would magically disappear (at left in the photo below).
For Piece No. 5 of Daily Thread, each day I stitched a color seen in the far field. The piece began with the tawny colors of last year’s growth, brittle and bleached by winter, and the deep browns of tree bark and branches. I started it on April 1 and ended it on April 18, just as the forsythias began blooming (Days 91–108 of the project). A few exuberant circles stitched in yellow French knots marked the joyful turn from winter to spring.
Piece No. 6 of Daily Thread focused exclusively on the bright patches of yellow — there are two stands of forsythia in the far field, and every year their beauty makes me catch my breath. I began it on April 19 and finished on May 4 (Days 109–124 of the project).
Daily Thread: Piece No. 6 (Forsythias), by Bonnie Sennott, 2019, pearl cotton and linen, 6 inches x 6 inches
I used a template to create oval shapes that burst outward from the center. Then I filled in the spaces between the ovals with golden seed stitch, gradually transitioning to green as the yellow flowers faded and green leaves replaced them.
From this point forward — until fall, anyway — the project’s colors became brighter and more saturated. For Daily Thread: Piece No. 7, with the theme of “winged,” I stitched colors of the birds throughout May. More on that in my next post.
Exhibition update: I had planned to show Daily Thread next month in my show at the Hosmer Gallery in Northampton’s Forbes Library. But since the library is closed for the time being due to the coronavirus, the show has been postponed to April 2021. It’s disappointing, to be sure, but it’s important that we all do what we can to prevent spread of the virus. I’ll also be exhibiting in September of this year at Easthampton City Arts and Daily Thread will be part of that show.
LINKS
About the Daily Thread Project
@bonniesennottart on Instagram