Klimt jacket: Sunflower

For a long time I have wanted to embroider the back of a denim jacket.  Now that fall weather is upon us, it seemed fitting to start this project.  My inspiration for using embroidery came from a pin I purchased from an artist in Russia, Alexandra Krylova.   She can be found on Instagram as kry.embroidery

Being a VanGogh admirer, I picked the Sunflowers pin for my first purchase:

Deciding what to put on my jacket actually wasn't too difficult to decide on.  I am planning an artful  trip next summer with my niece and one of the places we plan to go to is Vienna.  Gustaf Klimt.  What else can I say?  

Klimt painted his sunflower painting in 1905.  It is in someone's private collection, so not nearly as famous as The Kiss or Tree of Life.  

I began by making a rough sketch directly on my jacket:

Deciding that I wanted it to be brighter than the painting, I picked a few brighter greens for the leaves, and just started stitching. Not much planning.  I figured that if I didn't like it, I could cover it with something else.

 I am thinking that the sunflower needs some beads:

Here's where I'm at now: