Recurrence

Here, the latest off my hoop:




This is the project that I'd started before and taken with me to Italy, but not really worked on at all when I was there. I finished it up last week and am quite happy with the way it turned out; I absolutely love the colors....



The motif of moths is a recurring one for me. One of my first tattoos was of a moth, and then, years later when I started stitching, one of my very first original cross-stitch projects was the silhouette of a moth. (See it here, way back in November of 2007!)

Those photo copies are some of the ones I made when I was researching moths for my tattoo design (that, um, would have been somewhere around 1997.... yikes). I can't find the one that I ultimately used as the basis for the tattoo... I spent about a week at the Boston Public Library poring over old entomology books; it was kind of delightful.



Another perennial source of inspiration is this collage by Max Ernst:



I've had a postcard of the image since those Boston days and it's been part of my inspiration board off and on since then. The image here was taken from the Stadel museum and you can find more info about the collage here.

I've added the "Moth Study" piece to my Esty shop -- link here is you absolutely love it and need it in your life. Also, I'm working on a pattern/kit version, though it'll be a little different, as the fabric color I used here is now discontinued.... Keep an eye on the Etsy shop in the next week or two for that.