Artist Spotlight: Laura McGarrity

Let’s start from the beginning — how did your journey with embroidery begin?

Was there a moment or piece that pulled you into this medium?

Though I’ve always felt fairly creative, I never really found an outlet for my art when I was younger. After my children were born, my desire to make things for them led me to learn crochet and knitting. This was my introduction to the fiber arts. I loved working with yarn (and still do!), but I mostly made practical items like clothes, toys, and blankets and felt limited in what I could create with it artistically. I turned to cross stitching patterns as a way to represent artistic imagery but found I didn’t really have the patience for it when my biggest piece took almost a year to complete. I thought embroidery might be quicker and would allow me to stitch my ideas more freely without having to rely on patterns, but it was precisely that ‘free’ aspect of it that was so intimidating – like tight-rope walking without a net. It took me a while to get over that insecurity and attempt it, but I finally did in 2018. I decided to jump in with both feet, teaching myself by watching videos online, and I haven’t looked back since. After years of searching through multiple mediums, I feel like I finally found the creative outlet for me in embroidery.

Your embroidery style has such painterly detail. What are your favorite stitches or techniques that help you create such rich texture and depth?

The kind of stitching I use most in my embroidery is very aptly called threadpainting or needlepainting. I see a very natural connection between embroidering and painting. Just as you create an image with paint stroke by stroke with one color at a time, you threadpaint the same way, slowly building up an image stitch by stitch with one color of thread at a time. I usually start with the shadows or lowlights and then stitch the medium and lighter colors over those, blending as I go. It typically takes multiple passes of that layering technique to achieve a nice blended look. It’s very much a ‘trust the process’ style of stitching. It’s not uncommon for me to stitch for days, thinking the piece is just not coming together, until it just finally ‘clicks’ with the last few details. It can be a bit nerve-wracking, but it’s also so satisfying to see it all work out in the end.

What materials or threads do you love working with most? Do you have go-to brands, colors, or fabric types that make your process feel just right?

For embroidery floss, I most commonly use DMC. It is a tried and true, dependable brand that I’ve stitched with for years. I even have vintage DMC floss that I have ‘rescued’ secondhand that is indistinguishable from floss I bought yesterday. But I’ve recently enjoyed experimenting with other brands as well. I like the very purposeful color gradations found in Anchor floss color families; I love using Kreinik for metallic threads; and I enjoy stitching with Sulky 12 wt cotton thread for its unique weight and feel.

For fabric, I almost exclusively stitch on colored cotton (though I have also stitched on linen and wool felt); it is rare for me to stitch on white or off-white fabric. While I sometimes stitch on patterned quilting cotton, my favorite material to use is shot cotton, which is cotton woven with different colored warp and weft threads. I love the dimensionality and depth of color it has, shifting between the two shades depending upon the angle with which you view it.

Animals are a recurring theme in your work. What draws you to them, and how do you choose which ones to bring to life in thread?

I love stitching animals and other subjects from nature. There is such an astonishing variety of species on our planet that I could stitch a new one every day and not exhaust the possibilities in my lifetime. That’s amazing to consider, isn’t it? I like portraying lesser-known species – such as pikas, okapis, tamanduas, or cuttlefish – for their uniqueness, though I’m certainly not immune to the pull of ‘cute’ critters as well.

Some of the strategies I employ to bring a piece to life is to choose subjects with unique facial expressions or in poses conveying motion or movement – for example, owls or bats peeking over a wing, a cheetah cub mid-run with only one paw planted on the ground, or a fox walking into the wind with its fur blowing in multiple directions. Though the final product is a still capture, our eyes can’t help but pick up on the implied movement making it real in our minds.

The colors in your pieces are always so vivid and expressive. How do you approach building a color palette for a new design?

In all honesty, my very first attempts at threadpainting used alternative colors because I didn’t feel I could achieve a faithful representation using accurate colors – I think the fact I used alternative colors more frequently in my earlier pieces than in my later pieces reflects this. But I still love incorporating unique color palettes in my work. Sometimes, the palette is inspired by the subject. I chose blue and green shades for my otter because I felt they would effectively evoke water. For my giraffe, I chose a sunset-inspired palette with purples, pinks, blues, and oranges which was inspired by the environment in which they live. For my red panda, I chose a palette inspired by cherry blossoms in springtime, a theme I wanted to incorporate into that piece. It’s common to see tips for artists on the use of color theory in choosing a palette – using complementary, triadic, or analogous colors, etc. – but I rarely consult a color wheel in this way. Mostly, I just go with colors I like, that ‘feel’ right. Often, this involves picking colors that are similar to the true colors of the subject, with comparable values of dark and light, but which differ in hue. For instance, for a black and white zebra, I might choose dark blues, purples or greens for the black stripes, and either lighter shades of those colors or yellows or pinks for the white stripes. I’ll place all of those colors out in front of me and play around with them until one combination stands out or catches my eye. And occasionally, the ultimate choice is determined by the fabric I intend to use.

Your Polar Bear in Summer Time piece is absolutely incredible. Could you walk us through the process of creating it? What drew you to that image, and what was it like interpreting it through embroidery?

The piece is based off a still from drone footage shot by Martin Gregus for National Geographic. It’s a stunning image that I have long been captivated by. Who could not be enchanted by it, the image of one of the world’s most powerful predators lying so peacefully in a field of flowers? I had long considered the challenge of capturing the image in thread, but I didn’t know if I could do it justice. I wanted it to feel like you were hovering right over the bear, just like the drone, as if you could reach out and touch it. One day, I was reveling in a recently finished piece in which I had incorporated 3D stumpwork elements, feeling that I wanted to ride the wave and do another subject using the same technique,

when I realized this was what the polar bear needed and it just all came together. I used layers of stuffed felt to build up the mounds of flowers as well as the bear itself so they would pop off the surface of the fabric. I created additional depth to the flowers with the use of French knots of various sizes and shades and carefully employed stitch direction to capture the pattern of the bear’s fur to make it feel as real as possible. I had so many people reach out to me when I shared that piece to tell me about the feelings of peace, calm and happiness they felt when viewing it. It really surprised and humbled me, the degree to which that piece seemed to evoke strong emotions in people.

Do you usually work from sketches or photo references, or does your process evolve more

intuitively as you go?

I do both. To do realistic animal portraits, I rely on photo references as guides (especially when stitching wild species that I do not have access to in my backyard). Photos allow me to observe patterns of light and shadow which are among the most important elements for a life-like representation. But I also design my own images. Sometimes, the design process is very intentional, but at other times it can be quite organic, leading to an end product that is a surprise even to me. To give an example, the idea to stitch a frog led me to consult photos for reference. In one, the frog appeared to be looking at something out of frame, as if – it seemed to me – it was looking as itself in the mirror. This led me to consider what

a frog would be admiring in a mirror. Because I couldn’t settle on one idea, I entertained stitching different stumpwork accessories, like various hats, that could be swapped out to suit my mood (something I’ve incorporated into some of my other anthropomorphic pieces), but this left me with the conundrum of how it should be represented in the mirror. That led to the idea of the frog looking into the mirror viewing his imagined self, and my frog prince was born.

What does your setup look like — do you have a favorite spot, time of day, or ritual that helps you get into the flow?

I’m a part-time stitcher with a full-time job, so I have a combination office-and-craft space. I have a large L-shaped desk made of two kitchen countertops that I screwed together which gives me enough room to both work and create. Because I work during the day, most of my stitching is done at night and on the weekends. But I go through periods of feast and famine with my stitching. Sometimes I can complete 3 pieces in as many weeks, and then go over a month without stitching a thing. It used to bother me when I would experience dry spells of not wanting to stitch, but I’ve come to accept it as part of the overall process of producing art. Being creative can be draining. I have to be in the right mindset for it. If I’m not, I just have to wait until I am. I’ve learned not to try to force it.

Is there a particular piece you've made that holds the most meaning for you personally?

This is a really difficult question! The first pattern I designed entirely on my own (of a tiger swimming through weeds floating on the water) means a lot to me. That was the first piece where I really felt I was able to tap into the creativity that had long lay dormant within me and find my artistic voice. It was the piece that first got my art noticed on a larger scale and which introduced me to new artists and new followers. I’m also proud of pieces that demonstrate my technical proficiency with embroidery (such as the polar bear piece described above). My African flower beetle, which incorporated both padded and wireslip stumpwork techniques and was the first piece in which I used metallic thread, is another of my proudest works. Lastly, I have great fondness for my anthropomorphic pieces, such as my military general barn swallow. I feel these pieces most closely reflect my particular artistic style. Nothing makes me happier than when I share my latest piece and people say they could tell right away it was my work because it reflects my own style. I love having a ‘style’ that people recognize.

What’s next? Are there any upcoming projects, series, or ideas you’re excited to bring to life?

Because embroidery can be such a slow art, I sometimes lament that I have way more ideas than I will ever have time to stitch. I continue to try to find new ways to distinguish my art and reflect the artistic vision that I have in my mind’s eye. I have plans to incorporate some new techniques and fresh themes; I also have ideas for going larger scale. I feel like my art has evolved quite naturally over the past few years – in some respects, in ways I would not have predicted. I look forward to seeing how my art evolves as my skills continue to progress.