getting closer

jealousy moves closer to its denouement. i spent a couple of hours finishing the stitching on it this afternoon. here's where i was up to
and this is what we ended up with (sorry the photo is a little blurry - i was balancing on a kitchen chair)i was a bit cross with myself for making the claws a bit too modest so went over them a few times making them bigger - then as i was stitching in more leaves they became increasingly clawlike themselves and reached down to the jealousy claws and even at the edges grow roots and push into the ground, feeding back into the poison tree.... this wasn't in the original cartoon and made me feel rather disturbed. i don't know that this is a piece i would like to have on my wall - perhaps there are too many memories of jealousy in it for me to be comfortable sharing space with it

one thing that did strike me as i have been making this piece over the last couple of months is how long lived jealousy can be - it just take a couple of pokes before the flame at the heart of a seemingly dead memory can flare up and cut you anew.