Back in 2018, I was fascinated and enchanted by the creativity of a French gentleman, Alain Dodier, whom I met in the south of France. He designed and then embroidered amazing panels of historical narrative in the famous Bayeux embroidery stitch. www.jeanninecook.com/blog-jeannine-cook-silverpoint-artist/when-art-and-embroidery-unite and www.jeanninecook.com/blog-jeannine-cook-silverpoint-artist/when-art-and-embroidery-united-part-2
At the time, he was starting on another huge project of embroidering the narrative of the pilgrimages through his region of France, Carcassone, Beziers, etc.
To my delight, a neighbour has just sent me a link to the YouTube video of the completed panel, a wonderfully lively, lyrical creation, full of love for the region, but also with a depth of historical knowledge that is wonderful. More than two years of dedicated stitching have passed, a real feat.
It is really worth transporting yourself to southern France (especially in our times of difficult travel!) and to another era when pilgrims braved robbers and plagues, hunger and hardship as they trudged the dusty roads through beautiful French countryside on their way to Santiago de Compostela, way over the Pyrenees in Spain.