After buying the book “A Garden Eden. Masterpieces of Botanical Illustration” by H. Walter Lack it would be a shame not to get inspired by images of the book and create a few embroidered illustrations in the same theme. I examine the volume: 728 pages of images and descriptions from illustrators from all eras and all over the world. A gorgeous piece to keep in the bookshelf and to get delighted exploring page by page.
The purpose of botanical illustration is not to create a beautiful picture, instead is to capture the structure of the plants precisely. The beauty, in this case, is just a side effect. But we can’t help to admire the pleasant aesthetic result.
Without going so much into the scientific detail, I tried to reproduce in my own style, some of the beautiful works I’ve seen in the paper. I used natural fabric to simulate the aged paper, and stitches in different directions, giving volume and shape to different petals.
With so many pages to get inspired from, the embroidery collection is always growing. All embroidery hoops are created in coordinating colours, so mixing and matching is very easy. Decorating with botanical illustration never been so cozy!