The Textile Cuisine

With the sun going higher and the days getting longer gotta look for the signs of spring in the kitchen. Little birds say that "Spring is coming to the kitchen" is my newest kitchen portrait in stitches. It is 46 x 57 cm big and contains all kinds of spring surprises. Fresh milk and eggs with the promise of new life accompanied by colorful morning chorus. Clean plates are blooming and fresh water brings much needed vital energy. First greens appear everywhere slowly taking the kitchen space of. Even the old wooden floor can't resist as if trying to connect with sweet blooming memories... So good to see you back, dear Spring! Make yourself at home and stay as long as you wish.

Ever wondered what the restaurant's backstage at wedding party looks like? I did. So here is my textile vision of such a place. Many tasteful dishes impatiently waiting for their turn, all dressed appropriately and a bit excited. The pans could easily recognize it is a wedding time by the special lighting turned on. Big chandelier spreads the golden light on everything for the bright prospect of newly-wed's life. Even the floor keeps tidy, arranging accidental rubbish into lace patterns... Let's not forget the wedding cake! I know it is just my fantasy and reality may be less charming. But... my art is to inspire and to beautify. So imagine my incredible joy when for my birthday this year I got this: With all the edible details instead of glass beads. "Dancing on many weddings" is 20.5 x 21.5 in, ready to hang on the wall. And the real cake? Well, I don't remember the size because it didn't last long enough!

Here is my newest textile work with a cooking theme. I finished it some months earlier but much to my surprise I had to revisit it and make some changes. The idea came from an older piece where I visualized the beginning of spring as a big pot boiling with first blooms. "Summer cooking" was made in the summer and I thought it was done although it looked differently from what you see now. I liked it and the response from viewers was great but it dawned on me that people see something different from what I wanted to show. At first it didn't bother me (everything in the eye of beholder of course) but finally I decided to give it another try. Long, autumnal evenings came handy for adding more embroidery stitches here and there. The whole piece remains the same but the small additions make the difference. The sun got some new golden touches too: And the blue leaves appeared: Now you can compare both versions yourself. Hope you prefer "after" th...

The name of cauliflower comes from Italian "cavolfiore" which means "cabbage flower"(and this comes from Latin caulis - cabbage and flos - flower). In Polish "kalafior" we don't see neither cabbage or flower but at least it sounds great. And the fresh white colour of the first cauliflowers really adds sparkle to the veggies stalls. Do you remember my "Green market" (it is HERE )? Personally I love the taste of cauliflowers but I also find their interesting shape inspirational. Last year it was used in many forms. Ever seen "Cauliflower tree": And you may remember fermented cauliflower I presented here some posts ago ( HERE ): It was also my role model for Medieval initial "C": This year I decided to focus on the head of this white and edible flower: And I saw it as a big jewel: What will be next?

Here is more of my works for our small group of textile artists "15 x 15" (see the previous work in this series HERE ). After the essence of the French landscape the time has come to create something in the style of the artist from this country. The very first thing coming to mind were still lives with food by Paul Cezanne. So I went for him. Stitching like Cezanne wasn't that easy but it was fun anyway. "Cheese and pears" - textile art in the post impressionist manner. Bon appetit!

This year spring is playing cat and mouse with us. So instead of fresh greens and young sprouts I'm sticking to fermented veggies. Deep red tones keep me warm on the wintry April's days. They inspire new stitched projects too but before they come to life take a look at the last summer's stitched veggies mix: Can you recognize my favorite ingredients? Cauliflower and carrots with a lot of salt. Oh, and a dill which is the key factor in my ferments! Broccoli brings this lovely dark green spots. And radishes for joyful pink tones. Kohlrabi, spices and... the magic of fermentation does the rest. Then it is just to find the way how to translate all the movement into stitches. But that's the fun part as much as eating the models with a big pleasure :)