Gormenghast owls

Please read this lengthy explanation to understand what the hell's going on with this.

This is for the literary owls contest, [link]

((Explanation is below the quotes))

There was a library and it is ashes. Let its long length assemble. Than its stone walls its paper walls are thicker; armoured with learning, with philosophy, with poetry that drifts or dances clamped though it is in midnight. Shielded with flax and calfskin and a cold weight of ink, there broods the ghost of Sepulchrave, the melancholy Earl, seventy-sixth lord of half-light.

Seeing an Earl as an owl on a mantelpiece, and having part of one's face removed by a cat, both on the same morning, can temporarily undermine the self-control of any man.

Description of the Earl's descent to madness, from Titus Groan by Mervyn Peake

"We should never have had the poets. They tell us you see, their pen is the pulse, Fuschia, our voice is the bell, their words travel down, and down, and on and on and to nothing and on and on into such nothing and nothing and nothing and nothing…."
Lord Sepulchrave, whilst becoming insane, to his daughter Fuschia in Titus Groan by Mervyn Peake

Gormenghast, that is, the main massing of the original stone, taken by itself would have displayed a certain ponderous architectural quality were it possible to have ignored the circumfusion of those mean dwellings that swarmed like an epidemic around its outer walls. They sprawled over the sloping arch, each one half way over its neighbour until, held back by the castle ramparts, the innermost of these hovels laid hold on the great walls, clamping themselves thereto like limpets to a rock. These dwellings, by ancient law, were granted this chill intimacy with the stronghold that loomed above them. Over their irregular roofs would fall throughout the seasons, the shadows of time-eaten buttresses, of broken and lofty turrets, and, most enormous of all, the shadow of the Tower of Flints. This tower, patched unevenly with black ivy, arose like a mutilated finger from among the fists of knuckled masonry and pointed blasphemously at heaven. At night the owls made of it an echoing throat; by day it stood voiceless and cast its long shadow.
Description of the tower of flints, Titus Groan by Mervyn Peake</b>

It is five years ago. Witless of how his death by owls approaches he mourns through each languid gesture, each fine-boned feature, as though his body were glass and at its centre his inverted heart like a pendant tear.
Description of Sepulchrave before his death, from Gormenghast by Mervyn Peake </b>

I chose to cover the Gormenghast books, which are shamefully obscure, there was a mini-series made by the BBC in the year 2000 which was awesome, but that's also shamefully obscure.

So to explain the scene, Lord Sepulchrave, the 76th Earl of Groan and Lord of all Gormenghast castle, has completely gone insane. His library was burnt down which sent him over the edge, though he wasn't that together to begin with.

At this point in the scene depicted, he think he's turning into the Death Owl. Owls are a recurring theme throughout the books. He sits perched on his mantelpiece, hooting and nesting, so that's him in the embroidery, the fact that he looks like a little white owl is a complete coincidence, he wears a long white nightshirt and has white hair, so I was actually aiming for him to look more like a person than he turned out.

The owl behind him is supposed to be his shadow as the Death Owl. In the foreground in front of him is his owl sceptre.

On the left hand side is the view from his window, the Tower of Flints from the quotes above. This is where all the owls in the castle live, they fly freely, but no one goes there because the owls are a bit insane.

Not long after this scene, Lord Sepulchrave enlists the help of his servant Flay, and together they drag the body of the vile castle cook, Swelter to the tower, then Lord Sepulchrave feeds both himself and the dead cook to the owls. His death remains a mystery in the castle and no one finds out for a long time what happened to him and his body.

So I hope that now I've explained that, it's a bit more clear. if not, I highly recommend tracking down the mini-series (it's probably on youtube) and watching it if you can't get hold of the books, the scene happens a little differently in the books to the series, but seeing it in the series will probably still explain it better than I have.

All in all, this has used a fair chunk of cloth, and about 9 reams of silks, though about 4 of those were just the white.

It was all done free-hand, without a pattern, just a rough sketch on the fabric. I have sworn never to do it again, because it was a huge pain.

I haven't decided whether or not I'm going to hoop this or turn it into a pillow. I'm probably going to end up hooping it.

You can see the WIP here: