Divine Love upon the Wheel -Hildegard von Bingen - Stormy Sacred Sunday

There is a wild storm raging here , it was a very windy night and forecast to be continuing on into much of today and tomorrow .
 Cosy and warm in my bed last night , listening to it howling away while I stitched away into the small hours .

 Yesterday morning was so beautiful calm and the sun was shining up in a beautiful blue sky .We took a walk down the lane to see the snowdrops and violets (see my other blog ) I brought in a pile of wood for the fire .
 We were glad to have made the most of such a lovely morning before the sky became dark and it all changed !

 So I took up that beautiful coral crewel wool and filled in the centre and the lines below God's hand .
                                          I knew it would make it sing !

                 I treated myself to some new gold-plated chenille needles !
Just because they are so beautiful and I need to feel like a Princess every now and then !

Hildegard von Bingen Divine Love upon the Wheel - filling in the background

 I filled in the background with line after line of stem stitch , nice and easy . Plain and uncomplicated to highlight the centre medallion .

               I worked that band of " Love and Light " in long and short stitch .

            Appleton's Crewel wool  - Brightest White - number 991B

 Very happy . Now to thread my needle with that gorgeous coral red wool !

Divine Love upon the Wheel Hildegard von Bingen Relaxing Sunday Stitching

 Sacred Sunday relaxing stitching time .
    I filled in between those blue petals , using long and short stitch . Starting from the outer edge shading from light to dark , but trying to capture the mysterious dark shapes at the base of the petals .
     These shapes vaguely resemble birds or maybe fleur de lis or maybe are just dark shadows , but still I tried to get them right .

I put in the thin yellow bands at the bottom and then decided to work on the background .
Those are just what I call anchoring stitches , they will give support to the stitches which I will work over the top of them , going the other direction .
 All of the areas which I have completed so far which look in appearance to be white , are actually off white and the background is slightly darker still almost oatmeal . This is because I want that band of God's love pouring down , to be brilliant white and to really stand out . Even God's hand is not quite as brilliant white as this band between the black outlines . The painting is quite deliberate in it's illumination technique and I think it is wonderful ! 

 

Divine Love upon the Wheel - Hildegard von Bingen - Stitching the Blues

                           I,m enjoying working the blue Colonial knots .
                             I cant wait to use that lovely coral wool  !

Divine Love upon the Wheel Hildegard von Bingen update

I thought about doing those "petals" in long and short stitch gradually blending the different shades of blue crewel wool , but that isn't the way it's painted .
 The painting shows the lovely shades of blue swirling about like little clouds .
I decided the best way to get the painterly effect on those petals was to work them in Colonial Knots . 
  I think I can replicate that effect .... oh well .. let's see what happens !

 It is much harder than I thought choosing not only the blues but the whites too .
It seems that Appletons do lots of different shades of white crewel wool ....and guess what .... I don't have the brilliant white shade that I need  !  It needs to be a very bright white . The one in the picture above is too dull .
  So I,ll have to leave the white areas until I can get my hands on some !

I also stitched a bit of the dark blue Acanthus leaf shape in the right hand corner .
It,s been a gardening day for me today , the weather has been so nice , but I made time to do a little more of it this evening .
 

Divine Love upon the Wheel - A Little Lenten Project

                                   Choosing and matching up colours .
 I had this little piece of embroidery in mind , to work on over Lent , which will begin on Ash Wednesday 26th February this year.
               Easter being on Sunday April 12th.
But I changed my mind and decided to begin it now after hearing of the passing of a very dear friend Rev.Fr.James Courtney OSB . A monk from Buckfast Abbey who came to serve here , for a short while at Mullion . A  kind , generous and very holy man ....who will be sadly missed by all in the parish .
      He will be in my thoughts and prayers while I stitch this .
It is a small section of an illumination manuscript of St Hildegard von Bingen . From Part 3, Vision 5 of the " Book of Divine Works".
 It is a small section of a much larger picture/painting . I chose to do the hand of God pouring down His love and Peace on us all .
   It is called " Divine Love upon the Wheel ".
   

                      I have sketched it out in pencil on a scrap of linen .

      The Illuminations/paintings of St Hildegard of Bingen are just so beautiful and amazingly modern looking , the colours are incredible for the time that she lived between 1098 - 1179 .
     They all come from the visions that she had from the age of three , and on throughout her life .
 Nobody knows for sure if she painted them herself or just described what she saw to another nun or monk who painted them as she dictated . She wrote books on herbs , diet and medicine . She wrote beautiful music ..I have no doubt in my mind , that such a creative person could certainly have been an artist too !
     I have stitched many small pieces from these illuminations , you may remember when I was embroidering " medieval stars " in a post a little while ago . They were fun little things to stitch ! This illumination is from a copy done by the nuns in about 1230 called the Lucca manuscript .

  These are just simple guidelines done with a pencil , not especially accurate .

I am stitching over these guide lines , in the colours that I intend to embroider this little piece with .  These are also not meant to be especially accurate .
 This is no way meant to be a tutorial , but merely to show how I am doing it ....but if it inspires you then that is great !
    I am making decisions about colour and stitches as I go along and I like to see how it changes . Sometimes surprises , hopefully not too much unpicking .
                         A lovely way of meditation and prayer .
                                           Peace to you .