Daylily

Yesterday, I sold this piece, Daylily. It's 16 x 16, and framed, though not in this photo. I've had my work exhibited in a retirement community's gallery, and one of the residents, Mrs. H, bought it. When I went over there yesterday to take the work down, she was there checking her mail. She said "Are you Martha?!" and proceeded to tell me how lovely the piece is, and how happy she is to have bought it. Mrs. H and her daughter were looking at the work, and when they saw it, they both started to cry.

It turns out that Mrs. H's best friend, now deceased, was also the daughter's godmother, and grew daylilies the same shade as the fabric in the piece. When she died, Mrs. H and her daughter took some of her bulbs and planted them in their gardens to remind them of their friend.

Today, the daughter is bringing her husband home from the hospital to die. He's 48, and has been struggling with a brain tumor for 5 years, and there's nothing left to do for him. Mrs. H will hang it so that it's the first thing they see every morning. I am so honored.

I made Daylily in 2003, using commercial and artist-dyed fabrics, embellished with machine embroidery, oil pastels, and beads. It has been exhibited locally and in Cergy/Pontoise, France.