Casgliadau Arlein

Needlework picture of Llanddeiniol village, worked in wool and acrylics. Made by Cathy Evans during the Covid-19 pandemic, 2020.

"This tapestry of the village where I live took about two weeks to make. There are no people, cars or animals in it. Just the village. First, I looked at a few photos from different angles and in different seasons, then I drew on the canvas. Using wool, I started at the bottom of the hill and worked my way along the road, as if I was slowly walking up it, thinking of each neighbour as I stitched their house. I used wool left over from other projects and, luckily, I had many different shades of green, so the colour palette just emerged as I worked." Cathy Evans, quoted in The Guardian newspaper, 13 November 2020. The needlework picture featured in an article on pandemic craft projects.

The embroidery is worked onto a ground of stiffened white cotton canvas fabric. It is canvas work whereby the stitches cross diagonally over one intersection of the ground weave.The image depicts a village on a slope, rising to the viewer's left and falling to the right. Landscape is depicted in multiple shades of green as well as a blue sky. There is a grey church with a square tower and houses and cottages] in white and grey. Two trees on the viewer's right. Inscribed (signed) with the year (2020) and maker's initials CE (Cathy Evans) on upper proper right corner. Canvas has a selvage edge along the top. Preparatory drawings in blue drawn directly onto the canvas, still visible beyond the edges of the embroidery. Some areas of missing stitches. Remains of thin black thread is stitched into the canvas near three of the corners (probably from when the embroidery was attached to a frame whilst being worked on).