Inspired by Van Gogh

My latest mini cushion design has been the most challenging one to produce to date!  I set myself the task of re-creating miniature versions of some of Vincent van Gogh's most famous paintings into my 6" square template.  I had been floating this idea around in my head for some time and kept thinking it would be an impossible task, but I finally sat down and started working on each 'mini painting' at a time and I really enjoyed studying each of Van Gogh's paintings and selecting which sections I wanted to use in my design.  I first chose the thread colours to closely match the palette that Van Gogh used, then it was a case of trying to get as much detail into each section while still keeping the image recognisable and I didn't want to get into using fractional stitches so the whole design is stitched with cross stitches plus a little backstitch to help give definition to some areas.

So, here is the finished mini cushion, and it is now available as a kit which includes everything you need to make it (excluding cushion filler, but that is available separately on my website if needed). The link to the kit on my website is here: Van Gogh Mini Cushion Cross Stitch Kit

And I thought I would put together this picture to show which paintings I took as my inspiration (just in case they were not truly recognisable!):

I now have plans for more 'inspired by' designs for the new year, perhaps taking Da Vinci, Monet, Cezanne and Picasso as the inspiration, so I shall have to get studying the paintings!