I started working on Nightbirds in 2021. The design began as an image in my mind of two fantastical birds in a magical forest lit by moonlight. When I was a girl, I used to doodle imaginary birds all the time. The birds in this design are an extension of that.
It was a tenuous image at first, and my initial drawing was very rough, just an approximation of the elements. As I worked on it, the design slowly began to take shape. I knew I wanted to incorporate goldwork, brilliant silk colors, and elements from crewel work. I began doing research on flowers and birds, both from nature and from historical crewel work embroideries. I drew numerous small studies for each of the individual flowers and birds. I then started to stylize them, with the birds drawing heavily from the ones I used to draw in my youth. I connected them all with swirling vines and leaves to weave my enchanted forest.
As I considered what color to use for the background, I thought particularly of the deep indigo one sees in the sky after the sun has fully set, but while there is still a bit of light illuminating the night sky. I live in San Francisco, minutes from the Pacific Ocean, and this is an incredible color that can be seen on a clear night, particularly in the late Summer and early Fall. I ordered many velvet samples, and finally decided on a deep, sapphire blue silk velvet for the background.
I did multiple drawings over the course of several months. I worked on the final drawing for a long time, making minute adjustments to the proportion and position of the major elements until I was satisfied. Once the pencil drawing was finished, I transferred it to hand made rag paper to complete a color rendering in gouache, a type of opaque watercolor.
Before painting the design in color, I generally pull colored threads, crystals, sequins, etc. from my collection to see how things will look together. It gives me a baseline to start from. I always have some idea of the colors I plan to use, but it helps to put them side by side and move them around so I can see them in front of me. I don’t limit myself to what I have on hand, but use it as a starting point. I then paint color washes and test swatches before embarking on the final painting.
After I have finished a color rendering, and even sometimes before it is done, I begin sourcing elements for the embroidery. Because the color design, although it takes many steps to complete, is just the start.
I am constantly looking for beautiful vintage micro beads and sequins, unusual metal purls, and crystals in new or vintage colors. Sometimes these inspire part of the design. For Nightbirds, I found some gorgeous, tiny, metal sequins from the late 19th century, in wonderful and varied shades of blue. This was a big inspiration for the birds, as I knew I wanted to use them in the feathers. I also had some wonderful rust colored wire check purl from France (circa 1930’s) with an interesting twist that I thought would work in the peach colored flowers. I had vintage Swarovski crystal colors that I wanted to use. All of these things inspired me, and having a large collection amassed over the last 30 years, meant I could go to my storage cabinet and pull out a selection to see what I liked best. I spent a long time choosing the silk thread colors to match my design, working from my Au ver a Soie color chart, and then placed an order for every possible color I thought I might need.
Finally, in January of 2023, I started working on the actual embroidery. I had to figure out what stitches to use, where I wanted silk shading, where I wanted goldwork, where to accent with crystals, sequins, beads and metallic threads. My embroidery never feels complete without some sparkling, crystal elements in it. I tend to use simple embroidery stitches, and let the color take the lead. I love silk shading and use many, many colors of silks in my work.
When I stitch any embroidery, it continues to evolve. Some things work, others don’t, and I will take out and redo things I’m not happy with. I rarely do full samples, but I did do a fairly extensive embroidery sample for Nightbirds. The images in my imagination, particularly of the birds, were very complex. I wasn’t able to effectively paint all the beads and sequins I wanted to use in the feathers of the birds, so decided it would be best to do a sample to decide how I wanted it to look. It took a long time, but was very informative, and helped me make the final birds much more beautiful than my first attempt.
This is the path I took to create Nightbirds, as best I can describe it. I hope this will give you some insight into my creative process. Being an artist is something I have lived all my life. I have trained and studied to develop my skill, but the need to create has always been an innate part of who I am, since I was a child. While sometimes inspiration just comes to me, creating a finished design is never easy. Many, many steps, lots of hard work, and hundreds, sometimes thousands of hours, are required to complete a beautiful design and finished embroidery.
—Ann