All In A Day's Work

I did more work on the Illuminated manuscript and decided to post some of the details. Feel free to give it a miss. 

This squirrel is one of the two on the bottom half of the piece. He still need an eye.

Also on the bottom on the left hand side is this little dragonfly. I finished him this evening.

A hawk, but not yet back stitched and he goes on the right hand side of the upper portion.

This moth/butterfly is also on the right hand side at the top. He still needs a couple of stitches and back stitching.

A finished butterfly from the left hand side. I am always amazed how the jumble of stitches comes clearer when the back stitching is added. The blobs are flowers/leaves and still need their vines to attach them to the border.

The snake is one of my favorite and a bird begins to emerge on the left while the snake goes after two birds, probably gulls, taking flight from his venomous bite.

I've added some of the back stitching in the main picture at the top of the piece. She is surrounded by birds and flowers and many little bits of life in the grass and trees.

As you can see, there are still more animals and flowers and leaves to go, but the illuminations are coming along after a couple hours of stitching.

Life -- and art -- are in the details. Nothing is insignificant. A single stitch becomes a note of music or the eye of an animal. A line becomes antenna or a leg or the flickering tongue of a serpent. Everything is important.

Happy stitching