Ocracoke/Driftwood

There is an actual lighthouse on Ocracoke; this piece is not really based on that lighthouse. It's actually based on this wondrous piece of lawn art I happened upon the last time I was on the island. I'm 99% sure this display is supposed to the Ocracoke lighthouse, so there's that.

My last visit to Ocracoke came at a weird time in my life. I was going through a lot of personal things, and I had the opportunity to get away to Ocracoke with my friend, Kelly, and her family. It was the best thing that could have happened to me at that moment in time. Kelly and I fell into the easy conversations of friends who are very much a part of one another's lives, but who don't have the gift of proximity to spend time together. We talked about everything and nothing. We laughed a lot. We got carded at the local pub. It was delightful. 

One of our more ridiculous conversations, which happened to last the entire trip, was our plans for Kelly to open a driftwood art studio. If you've ever driven to any part of the Outer Banks, you know that driftwood art is very popular and very much a thing. People do amazing things with driftwood, from massive sculptures to wall hangings and small decorative items. By the end of the trip, we'd come up with a pretty long list of things Kelly should include in her driftwood art plan. Kelly is an incredibly gifted painter and creative soul, so I wouldn't be surprised if she decided that a driftwood period was something she needed to do. 

I found the above tableau on one of my morning walks around the neighborhood. I have no idea if that's a fish or a mermaid tail, so my design is a little in between as well. The lighthouse is my favorite part of my version; the French knot rocks really make an impact. I don't know if I captured the driftwood perfectly, but I did my best. I've never seen driftwood rendered in embroidery thread. The end effect looks pretty cool to me. Everything is a little out of scale too; so was most of the random lawn art I saw on the island. I want to be true to the source. 

I did some of this on my lunch break today; I probably wouldn't have finished as soon as I did if I hadn't done that. Working from home rocks. 

Details:
Stitches: back, straight, stem stitches, French knots
Thread palette: 

• Lighthouse: DMC 310 (2 strands), 444 (3 strands), 318 (4 strands), SS 702 (3 strands)
• Water: DMC 710 (6 strands)
• Fish/Mermaid: DMC 954 (6 strands), 3846 (3 strands)
• Rocks: DMC 646, 167, 3782 (6 strands)
• Driftwood tree: DMC 3782, 318 (3 strands)