The dragon is nice–the whole image actually shows the dragon clutching at a small earth, on a blue cape. The earth part is icky, so I didn't photograph it. I use this technique of leaving out stuff all the time to make my garden pictues look good.

To save time I worked in coarser threads, but I think they're rather attractive in their own right. Breaking down color regions into strips thin enough for the satin stitch not to sag is one of my oldest techniques, developed before I had any formal training or exposure to standards and is still a favorite.

Because I'm self-trained and don't come out of an embroidery tradition, my attention to technique, and especially lack of knots, cleanliness on the back of the work and so on, is, shall we say, less rigorous than that of many embroiderers. –I recall one of my teachers commenting how much “sloppier” artists were than engravers when making prints; so for many years I didn't worry over much about these sorts of details, and though I make a little more of an effort to be neat, I worry more about the durability than perfection.

Unless otherwise noted, text, image and objects depicted therein copyright 1996--present sylvus tarn.