Sarajo Frieden has long been a favorite illus­tra­tor of mine. I met her once, briefly, in the sum­mer of 2008 at ICON5 (illus­tra­tors con­ven­tion) and she was a very nice. I tried not to gush too much.

There are so many things that I love about her work, but for now I am going to focus on the embroi­dery that makes its way into her port­fo­lio from time to time.

I enjoy Sarajo’s embroi­dery work because it trans­lates well with her mark mak­ing, adding a hint of dimen­sion to her prints. Her painted shapes are flat and the design is fan­tas­tic, but I love it when the 3D and 2D worlds play off each other.

The stitches in her work seem uncon­ven­tional from stan­dard embroi­dery. For exam­ple — notice the twist of thread so it curls up (to illus­trate a flower bud), or the loose threads hang­ing off the page (for things that are furry!).

All images via her web­site.