The 16th and 17th pieces of my Daily Thread stitch journal were completed during the fall, and the palettes I chose for them reflected the changing colors of the landscape here in New England.
For Piece 16, the theme was “leaves.” Like the month of October, the piece embodies both change and continuity. Small seed stitches in green, yellow, and ochre—the colors of the summer season just passed—are clustered at each side, pressing up against horizontal and vertical groups of running stitch in orange, brick red, bright yellow—the colors of changing leaves in fall. The strong vertical emphasis was meant to suggest permanence and stability. After the fall show of colorful foliage comes to an end, the tall tree trunks remain rooted in place, connecting earth and sky in all seasons.
I stitched Piece 16 from October 12 to October 31, 2019, Days 285–304 of the project.
Stitched from November 1 through November 25 (Days 305–329), Piece 17 had the theme of “fallen.” As the landscape transitioned from fall toward the spareness of winter, I chose red French knots for the lingering bittersweet in the landscape. These were stitched over and around scattered clusters of parallel running stitches and small crosses suggesting wind blowing across the surface of the linen. Neutral colors—brown, ochre, beige—reflected the emptying of color from the world outside my windows and looked back to the palette of the very first piece in the Daily Thread project.
Daily Thread: Piece 17 (Fallen), by Bonnie Sennott
Coming up: My next Daily Thread post will be about the 18th and final piece, which had the theme of “cardinals.”
Exhibition news: My April 2020 show at the Hosmer Gallery, which was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, has been rescheduled to June 2022. The gallery is located in the Forbes Library in Northampton, Massachusetts.
My September 2020 show at Easthampton City Arts—also cancelled due to the pandemic—hasn’t yet been rescheduled; the gallery remains closed. In the meantime, you can view two of my negative space embroideries in the online exhibit POST PAUSE. The show presents works created during the time of the coronavirus pandemic by artists in western Massachusetts. Each artist's work is accompanied by a statement about how their creative practice has been impacted by COVID-19.
LINKS
About the Daily Thread Project
@bonniesennottart on Instagram