Uncle Iroh "Hope" Poster Cross Stitch Pattern - instant PDF Download

"In the darkest of times, hope is something you give yourself. That is the meaning of inner strength." -Iroh, Dragon of the West

That quote reminded me of that Shepard Fairey Obama "hope" poster, one of the most (if not the most) instantly recognizable pieces of pop art of the 21st century. Street art and pop art has always been a big inspiration for me and I love to draw on and reference it. There's something fascinating to me about the fact that one of our most enduring art media (paint on walls) has now also become essentially ephemeral in the anthropocene; street art almost always gets painted over or destroyed. But Lascaux still survives, and the Bayeaux tapestry remains even though a computerized project undertaken to celebrate the 900th anniversary of the Domesday Book (a survey undertaken by William the Conqueror, whose battle is depicted on said tapestry) is completely unreadable a mere 40 years later.  This is part of why I like to take modern media, by its nature fragile and tenuously held, and render it into the ancient art form of fiber arts, freezing it in time in a way we have by and large forgotten how to do. 

Mockup is shown to scale on 14ct aida in a 5x7 picture frame.