{"id":14385,"date":"2023-02-14T09:04:00","date_gmt":"2023-02-14T09:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.blog.virtuosewadventures.co.uk\/wordpress\/?p=14385"},"modified":"2023-02-09T13:50:01","modified_gmt":"2023-02-09T13:50:01","slug":"still-another-idea-from-a-book","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.blog.virtuosewadventures.co.uk\/wordpress\/2023\/02\/14\/still-another-idea-from-a-book\/","title":{"rendered":"Still another idea from a book"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignleft size-medium is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.blog.virtuosewadventures.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/StellasBirds1_Watermarked.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.blog.virtuosewadventures.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/StellasBirds1_Watermarked-200x300.jpg\" alt=\"Quick gouache sketches, inspired by medieval images, of the birds described in the text. They aren't in scale with each other.\" class=\"wp-image-14377\" width=\"150\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.blog.virtuosewadventures.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/StellasBirds1_Watermarked-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.blog.virtuosewadventures.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/StellasBirds1_Watermarked-681x1024.jpg 681w, https:\/\/www.blog.virtuosewadventures.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/StellasBirds1_Watermarked-768x1155.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.blog.virtuosewadventures.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/StellasBirds1_Watermarked.jpg 800w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>January&#8217;s Book of the Month for the <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/elizabethgoudgebookclub\/\" target=\"_blank\">Elizabeth Goudge Bookclub on Instagram<\/a> was &#8220;Gentian Hill&#8221;, and that reminded me of an episode in that book that I&#8217;ve long wanted to depict in some way. In the book, the heroine, Stella, and the Abb\u00e9 visit a local church where Stella has been entranced by some carved panels and asks the Abb\u00e9 to explain their significance.  The carving show birds, one eating a grape, one killing a caterpiller, one with beak open in song. The Abb\u00e9 explains:<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignright size-medium is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.blog.virtuosewadventures.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/StellasBirds2_Watermarked.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.blog.virtuosewadventures.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/StellasBirds2_Watermarked-222x300.jpg\" alt=\"Another attempt at the bird feeding on a grape, with something below that even I can't recognise!\" class=\"wp-image-14378\" width=\"167\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.blog.virtuosewadventures.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/StellasBirds2_Watermarked-222x300.jpg 222w, https:\/\/www.blog.virtuosewadventures.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/StellasBirds2_Watermarked-756x1024.jpg 756w, https:\/\/www.blog.virtuosewadventures.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/StellasBirds2_Watermarked-768x1040.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.blog.virtuosewadventures.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/StellasBirds2_Watermarked.jpg 800w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 167px) 100vw, 167px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>The bird with the grape in its beak is the penitent soul of man feeding on the true vine. The bird attacking the caterpillar is the strengthened soul of man fighting evil. The singing bird is the soul that has overcome praising God. You take them in that order, Stella.<\/p>\n<cite>Elizabeth Goudge, Gentian Hill<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignleft size-medium is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.blog.virtuosewadventures.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/StellasBirds3_Watermarked.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.blog.virtuosewadventures.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/StellasBirds3_Watermarked-229x300.jpg\" alt=\"More attempts at birds. These have more energy, but they still look the wrong sort of awkward.\" class=\"wp-image-14379\" width=\"172\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.blog.virtuosewadventures.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/StellasBirds3_Watermarked-229x300.jpg 229w, https:\/\/www.blog.virtuosewadventures.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/StellasBirds3_Watermarked-783x1024.jpg 783w, https:\/\/www.blog.virtuosewadventures.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/StellasBirds3_Watermarked-768x1004.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.blog.virtuosewadventures.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/StellasBirds3_Watermarked.jpg 800w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 172px) 100vw, 172px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>(And, for those twitching at the non-inclusive language, Gentian Hill was written in the 1940s and set during the Napoleonic War. One of the themes of many of Elizabeth Goudge&#8217;s books is that there are many forms of struggle and many forms of service, none less than another, even if some may be less spectacular!)<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignright size-medium is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.blog.virtuosewadventures.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/StellasBirds5_Watermarked.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.blog.virtuosewadventures.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/StellasBirds5_Watermarked-300x222.jpg\" alt=\"Vine leaves and sketches of the birds, trying to surround the birds with bunches of grapes.\" class=\"wp-image-14381\" width=\"225\" height=\"167\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.blog.virtuosewadventures.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/StellasBirds5_Watermarked-300x222.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.blog.virtuosewadventures.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/StellasBirds5_Watermarked-768x569.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.blog.virtuosewadventures.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/StellasBirds5_Watermarked.jpg 800w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>Now, as I&#8217;ve been adding final details to the Excavation, I&#8217;ve been reminded of how much I enjoy working in the hand, and I would like to devise a way to depict the images, singly or as one panel, in a way that is strongly textured, surface embroidery, that I can work in the hand as a rest from underside couching or attaching spots to border panels with invisible stitches. <\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignleft size-medium is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.blog.virtuosewadventures.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/StellasBirds4_Watermarked.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.blog.virtuosewadventures.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/StellasBirds4_Watermarked-300x156.jpg\" alt=\"A branch with vine leaves and bunches of grapes, and the three birds in different aspects. Still not balanced or successful, but it shows how I have been thinking.\" class=\"wp-image-14380\" width=\"225\" height=\"117\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.blog.virtuosewadventures.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/StellasBirds4_Watermarked-300x156.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.blog.virtuosewadventures.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/StellasBirds4_Watermarked-768x398.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.blog.virtuosewadventures.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/StellasBirds4_Watermarked.jpg 800w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>So I&#8217;ve been thinking of basing the ideas and stitch choices on Mountmellick work, which is not entirely unsuitable when you consider that one of the other main characters, Zachary, is of Irish parentage, and the shapes of the birds on medieval images, because the church, of course, is a very old one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Alas, thus far my playing with pens, paints and ideas hasn&#8217;t got me very far. It&#8217;s hard to balance three creatures that aren&#8217;t all looking the same way, and it doesn&#8217;t feel right to me to make them face the same way!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>January&#8217;s Book of the Month for the Elizabeth Goudge Bookclub on Instagram was &#8220;Gentian Hill&#8221;, and that reminded me of an episode in that book that I&#8217;ve long wanted to depict in some way. In the book, the heroine, Stella, and the Abb\u00e9 visit a local church where Stella has been entranced by some carved&hellip; <a class=\"continue\" href=\"https:\/\/www.blog.virtuosewadventures.co.uk\/wordpress\/2023\/02\/14\/still-another-idea-from-a-book\/\">Continue Reading Still another idea from a book<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[272,271,270,22],"class_list":["post-14385","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-designing","tag-gentian-hill","tag-stellas-birds","tag-stitches","radius"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.virtuosewadventures.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14385","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.virtuosewadventures.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.virtuosewadventures.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.virtuosewadventures.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.virtuosewadventures.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14385"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.virtuosewadventures.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14385\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14389,"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.virtuosewadventures.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14385\/revisions\/14389"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.virtuosewadventures.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14385"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.virtuosewadventures.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14385"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.virtuosewadventures.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14385"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}