Starting Mary the Pekinese

Now, although the starting impulse for the Placidus panel is the Pisanello painting (and I will be saying more about that in another post), it is also Elizabeth Goudge’s story, woven around an imagined version on an ancient wall. In the book, “The Herb of Grace”, the painting is already in the air, in your mind as you read, long before the mischievous young twins start pulling wallpaper off the pantry wall to reveal an ancient fresco.

So although I’m not intending any humans other than Placidus himself to be in the painting, the family dogs are definitely going to be in there, and I am starting with Mary the white pekinese.

And here we go again – the sketchiest of outlines, a piece of gauze, and the sort of breathless pause you take when you Definitely Don’t Want To Ruin It.

As you can see, the stitched version isn’t the same size as the source photo, so I can’t quite lay the gauze over the top to find where to stitch, but I can compare the shapes I’m creating. The black thread (good grief, I’m using black thread!!) is a fine silk, as used on the woodpecker.

The grey thread here in the highlights is from a gorgeous variegated silk eight strand thread. I think I may have bought it for “Leaving The Tyne“, but to be honest, at this stage I have no idea! It’s going to be useful, though, because I have several shades to pick from within a single length..

And I am already startled by how well Mary the Pekinese is looking.