"Circus Horse" by Jay Kendig

Jay Kendig, from Ohio, stitched this Melissa Shirley canvas (MSD 853) which is 21" x 21", on 13 mesh. The provenance of this canvas is quite a story, and we are pleased that Jay is sharing her story with Amy's readers.

“Be careful what you ask for.  A casual remark can turn into years of work.  I discovered this when I attended a needlepoint getaway in the Napa Valley sponsored by Wendy Harwood's Aristeia in Los Angeles.  The attraction for me was the fact that Melissa Shirley was going to be a guest of honor and since I am an unabashed fan of her work, I went.  I asked Melissa if she would ever consider doing another canvas with a horse as the subject.  She got creative and the next thing I knew here came The Circus Horse which has turned into a couple of years of steady work and a creative journey helped along the way by some very talented people.

  “I started the project during the winter of 2007 without a stitching guide, the idea that I would use my "stash"  accumulated from other projects and my creative juices.  It wasn't long before I realized that my stash and my creative juices were woefully inadequate and I was in way over my head.  I poured over books and haunted the "finished work galleries" on the Internet looking for ideas. The temptation to try to use every stitch in the book gave way to frustrations that almost put The Circus Horse back in the closet more than once. 

  “Karen Kugel at Park Avenue Needlepoint in Oakwood, Ohio gave me my first boost to the finish by suggesting the idea of using the pink Rhodes stitch underneath the horse.  The idea of couching the mane and tail with Watercolours came from a class with Tony Minieri, and when I finally appeared at Amy's in early January 2009, completely frustrated, Robin helped me figure out the flowers and sent me packing back to Ohio armed with new stuff and new ideas.  The rest was trial, error and perseverance.”