"SHPSBDTFTJUME"

(the full title can be seen on an earlier post).
I was inspired by the James Ensor exhibit at MOMA. I placed myself in the midst of demons as metaphors of psychological distress which can possibly result in physical ailments. Perhaps the act of creating and posting this work will act as an exorcism and cure/free me.
Aesthetically, the rule was not to have a stitch/stroke adjacent to another of the same color, to avoid solid areas of color. I suppose that could also be some kind of metaphor.
When placed horizontally, this piece puffs out with bumps and texture, like a miniature mountain. The red "evil" eye is, strangely, at the very highest point. That was not intentional.....

Work in progress

I started this in August after seeing the James Ensor exhibit at MOMA (The Museum of Modern Art, New York City). It's tentatively entitled "Self, half-possessed, surrounded by demons. The f*cking tic junked up my eye". I think I want to stitch those words, somewhat obscured, into the piece but I'm not sure its going to happen.
I was on the way to finishing but the demons keep on manifesting and I'm happily obliging.

Devil

I used to be scared of certain types of images of demons and devils. Mostly, the 'generic' kind that you see on Tarot cards or in stuff you find at Botanicas and such. The basic 'red guy' with the horns and tail and all. For some reason that basic image always scared me and I thought it was 'bad' to have it in my possession.
So I decided to perform an exorcism on myself. I made just that type of devil image that I was scared of. Slowly but surely as I continued to sew and form the image over the weeks I eventually stopped being scared. Now, I 'own' that image. I made it. I'm in control. I have the power. I'm not a-scared anymore.

First 'true' embroidery

I liked using the thread, so I decided to create an actual full image with the stitches. Then I realized - duh - people call that embroidery. I took a small piece of fabric and drew out a crude image I got from online, it was a mask of a demon monkey face. The finished embroidery doesn't look much like the image but I was happy with the result. I added some snakey-things around the head and stitched it to some collage material.