The seaside, coastal estuaries and marshlands provide natural habitats for birds. We enjoy watching their movement along the waters edge. A recent survey has recorded the number and variety of birds visiting our gardens and urban spaces. We associate skylarks with summer, robins with winter, ponds with waterfowl, and no farmyard seems complete without its chickens and geese! The sight of a kingfisher is pure magic.

The plumage of exotic birds in aviaries, birds illustrated in ornithological books, and birds captured in photographs provide an astonishing variety of colour and pattern. It is no surprise to find birds as a source of inspiration and symbolic meaning throughout the decorative arts.

• Compare and contrast depictions of BIRDS as you observe them in their surroundings or captured in prints and photographs, and as you find them on embroidered textiles from the past, other cultures and in contemporary design.
• Then use the shapes of a single bird or birds together - their silhouettes, flight patterns, plumage, poetic or symbolic meaning - as a source of inspiration to create an embroidered composition.

ENTRY DETAILS

• Your entry should use hand-stitched techniques and be based on an original design, accompanied by any trial samples, notes and drawings.
• Entries should not exceed 30 x 35 cms, and should be completed and mounted but NOT framed.
• Please send the work in a Jiffy bag with stamps enclosed to cover the return postage, together with a completed address label.
• All entries should carry the name and address, Individual Membership number or Branch name of the embroiderer, firmly attached to all enclosures.
• If confirmation of the arrival of the work is required, please enclose a stamped self-addressed envelope or postcard.