I had never embroidered but I always thought if I were to use needle and thread, it would be in the form of embroidery. Over the many years of painting on silk I had come across a few examples of the GU school of Embroidery but nothing really stuck in my mind. One day I decided to stick a needle through this painting silk and to my surprise it seemed more than DOABLE. All i knew about this ancient style of embroidery was that it was done on a painting and often the painting was only partially embroidered. It appeared to be a family school. Years have come and gone and i have continued to embroider on my silk paintings. They became my biggest seller and yet i still knew almost nothing about this art. And yes, it seems that this GU embroidery was becoming an accepted art form and hung in galleries alongside the scrolls and paintings. What had been started by concubines now saw men becoming involved in embroidering as art. Until then in China women did most of the sewing and men were the artists. TIDES SHIFTED.
Things began to change for me as well. I continued researching this GU school and saw that folding albums were even embroidered which means embroidering on paper. So i tried that with success and then came the biggest Embroidery projects. I started painting and embroidering Oriental room screens and people took notice.
If you are interested in this school of embroidery I would be happy to share what little i know. I will tell you that I do not use but a few kinds of stitches. As far as learning complicated stitches i am working with the few that were used in ancient times and trying to perfect this more or less LOST ART. Names changed and stitches changed and the original things that made this embroidery style have changed. I still know little about that part of it's history so i am making my own. Join my journey in GU embroidery..
