Done.

I showed you the beginnings of a stitched photograph here, a manipulated image of a magnolia petal; today, I finished it off.  And here it is.

I'm reasonably pleased.  It needs a good ironing; there's rather more distortion than usual, pretty much all at the top.  I think that's because there's two fair sized areas with no stitch at all, while the rest of the piece is quite intensively stitched.  It won't be a problem, whether or not the iron sorts it out, as, chances are, it'll be mounted, at least, if not framed. 

All the stitch uses variegated threads; the dark area is metallic, giving a slight gleam, the purple and pink areas were both rayons, and the yellow, a cotton.  Surprisingly, the only one that gave me any bother, was the cotton, which kept shredding...grrr.   Which reminds me that it's more than time to have the machine serviced.

Quite a few people who work with photographs stitch so intensively that the photograph can no longer be seen.  I don't work that way; I want my stitch to enhance the photograph, rather than using the photograph as a guide for stitch.  That seems to me to be more authentic, somehow.  Claude Debussy said that the music is the space between the notes; this work relies on both the photograph and the stitch for its impact. 

Here's what the piece looks like from the back.  It's interesting to look at it that way, not as a test of quality, but rather, to look at the form, without the distraction of the colour inherent in the photograph.

I'm pleased; I think the piece works well either way.  I wasn't intending to finish it, because I'm not a huge fan of stitching on canvas, but I'm glad I did.  I'm planning to start donating small works like these to charity, to raise money, though I suspect I'll need to make works that are a bit more commercial for that.  I suspect that charities can be remarkably picky; it would be a pity for something that involves a great deal of work to be sold off for peanuts in a charity shop.  I don't think it's unreasonable to hope that new work will be treated with a certain level of respect.  Or maybe I should just not worry about it.