Saving Graces
Inspired by Kapka Kassabova’s extraordinary book, Elixir, part of her Balkan Quartet, this piece expresses my desire to reframe healing plants with the reverence they deserve.
The plants are hand-embroidered on hand-painted silk in 21 separate pieces, with the frame embroidered and beaded in a single, separate layer of bronze silk, the ensemble mounted on olive green velvet.
It started from a sketch in late May 2025, with the design inspired by medieval altar pieces in the Venetian-Adriatic style (Paolo Veneziano in particular).
I spent happy months experimenting with different ways of embroidering the frame and then late summer in the Dalmatian archipelago with the bliss of stitching flowers by the sea…. I finally completed it the first week in November .
References for the flowers came from my walks in Devon and Dalmatia, and books by Marjorie Blamey & Christopher Grey-Wilson, Wild Flowers of the Mediterranean, and W.Keble Martin, The Concise British Flora in Colour.
Information about the healing properties of plants came from various sources and personal experience. I owe thanks to The Lost Book of Herbal Remedies by Nicole Apelian & Claude Davis, and Napiers The Herbalist in Edinburgh.
Here is the list of medicinal plants in “Saving Graces,” names left to right.
Top row
Cleavers (Galium aparine ); Bugleweed (Ajuga reptans )
Row 2
Herb Robert (Geranium robertianum ); Motherwort (Leonurus cardiaca) ; St Johns Wort (Hypericum perforatum); Stinging nettle (Urtica dioica ); Dog rose (Rosa canina ); Red clover (Trifolium pratense ); Self-heal (Prunella vulgaris ); Feverfew (Tanacetum parthenium); Sheep’s sorrel (Rumex acetosella ); Borage (Borago officinalis )
Row 3
Cornflower (Centaurea cyanus ); Valerian (Valeriana rubra ); Milk thistle (Silybum marianum); Calendula (Calendula officinalis)
Bottom Row
Marshmallow (Althaea officinalis); Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale ); Mullein (Verbascum Thapsus ); Hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna )
Main picture
Love in a mist (Nigella sativa); Yarrow (Achillea millefolium );Wild strawberry (Fragaria vesca )
Pendragan Art Studio 