The True Story behind Bear & Fish

Today I finished my Bear & Fish embroidery. I have to re-draw the pattern because I've added lots of details along the way that were not on the earlier versions of  Bear & Fish. I think the pattern will be in the shop sometime in the next two weeks. :)

This embroidery was heavily inspired by our stay on the coast of Bretagne (Britanny, France) last summer.You can see that Bear wears the original Breton striped shirt. I'd like to think that Bear lives on a little island off the coast of Britanny where he works as a light house keeper. In his spare time he likes to talk to fish.

Of course I had to include a shell in the embroidery because we found so many of them on the beaches in Britanny!

And some wonderful plants found on rocks near the seaside. I changed the shape and colour a bit and now the vegetation in the embroidery actually doesn't look anything like this plant anymore!

Moving on to the all important Fish. Sure, there is lots of fish and seafood in Britanny but what really inspired this particular 'Pose with Fish' was a couple of early 20th century postcards I bought on a Vide-grenier (an event much like a garage or jumble sale)

Sending funny postcards on April Fools Day (the first of April). to friends and family of people holding fake fish was a French tradition in the early 20th century. My Bear is holding a 'real' fish though and he's stroking it gently. So there you go, the The True Story behind Bear & Fish. I hope you enjoyed it!