As with many of my ideas for art pieces, this flicker of inspiration came to me at 2 AM when I was laying in bed struggling to fall asleep. There are several ways I use embroidery floss that really make the medium shine, and one of those is in creating a gradient. As I was laying there, I thought about the striking glass roof of the conservatory in St. Paul, Minnesota. I decided it would be interesting to juxtapose the soft blending of the sky through the glass with the rigid structure of the building. This idea percolated in my brain for a while, and then one day in celebration of my birthday my husband took me around town to various places that we had been talking about visiting. He had picked up on the conservatory being one of my projects that I wanted to do, and he made sure that we visited so I could gather my inspiration photographs. Then we went to a restaurant that served cocktails in pineapples, so he did a fantastic job of picking winning activities that day!
Even after getting my inspiration photos lined up, it still took a while before I started this project. Occasionally, on those long nights that I couldn’t sleep, I would scroll through the photos on my phone and figure out what viewpoint I wanted to take. For the months leading up to starting this, I was actually going to take a completely different angle. I was going to include a bench on the side of the aisles more prominently and not feature the wrought iron railing at all. At the time, it felt like an eyesore and a distraction from the soft beauty in the rest of the conservatory. But at the last minute (literally, the day I was starting it), I changed my mind. And I’m so glad I did. In retrospect, this piece is so much better due to the stark contrast between the natural elements and the architectural features. The shades of black provide weight and tie in the delicate sculpture and light fixture details. Making the change from what I had been dreaming about creating to a completely different view, when I knew that the project would take months of my life, was scary. But I had to go with my gut that I was off-track.
This was an intimidating project, but so far conquering something overwhelming that I don’t know how I will actually accomplish it has paid off. I finished this piece with just enough time to get it scanned and cards made before starting my summer art shows. I have been blown away by the positive responses this piece received since I finished it. The conservatory is a special place to a lot of people – I heard stories of weddings, engagements, and special memories with family and friends. While I am so proud of the technical details that I accomplished, it would mean very little if it didn’t resonate with people as well.