Stitched florals: this embroidery artist brings native Australian flora to life with needle and thread
With one thread after another, Kimberly Brennan-Tucker turns native Australian flowers into ever-lasting form.
“As a woman, there’s always the slight concern that you’re falling behind others in a career and not keeping up financially, in terms of super or earnings. We’re often the ones leaving our career behind to raise children and ones taking the hit for any sick days. So, leaving regularly-paid employment can be hard. But when you read about what people regretted doing in their life and what they really valued, it’s predominantly not money and their career. They valued relationships with family and friends, helping others, learning, travel and kindness.”
It’s this honest, relatable feeling that has seen Kimberly press pause on her full-time work to explore her creative side.
“It was made a little easier for me to pursue creativity because I cut a deal with my husband. Mid-2023 we moved to the UK for my husband’s job and this time is my chance to give creativity a go. A win-win for both of us! And we don’t lose out on the important things – with one of us not in traditional 9 to 5 work, we’re both less stressed and have more time for family, new adventures, kindness and joy.
“As any parent will know, finding time when working, parenting and maintaining a social life with all the pressures that involves, usually means there’s not much left in the way of ‘me’ time. So having this break away from traditional employment has been amazing to feel like I can create again! It’s given me time every weekday to work on finishing products as well as designing an embroidery kit and writing instructions for it. I’ve felt way more creative.”
With needle and thread, embroidery also allows Kimberly to recreate the vivid colour and beauty of native Australian flowers while she’s overseas. Having studied librarianship and worked in museums and archives, the idea of objects living beyond their initial purpose has always interested her.
“I have also loved that Australian florals have such a long shelf life. When you pick a bunch of natives they dry out eventually, but they still look and smell amazing. We even have the ‘everlasting daisy’ – the idea was already there!”
Each stitch slowly brings the flowers to life in embroidered form, carefully translated from photo references, to sketches, to the finished design.
For these pieces, Kimberly is inspired by books she’s read – such as 100 Australian Wildflowers and scenery imagined from fantasy novels – along with TV shows and movies she’s watched, like The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart and The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.
Then there’s the inspiration she draws from the places she’s visited.
“My mum lives near Alice Springs and when my daughter and I visited I really wanted to see the Sturt’s desert pea in person. This memory and trip inspired my hanging decoration of the same vibrant red flower,” she says.
Kimberly’s embroidered Sturt’s desert peas.
An embroidered branch of golden wattle.
Other creations are inspired by childhood memories, such as the golden wattle which Kimberly associates with her birthday and family get-togethers.
“The flannel flower was in my great-grandmother’s wedding bouquet and I’ve always gravitated towards it; it’s a soft and special flower, and perfect as a hanging ornament.”
One of Kimberly’s favourite parts of embroidery is the beauty of the threads and seeing them transform into something ‘almost living’.
“The colours can be so vivid and evocative. My sensory self likes handling the textures of the threads and materials.
“I think embroidery reminds me of gardening, too. One future goal I have is to have a micro flower farm, and while I’m living in an apartment in rainy grey Manchester, I’m unable to have a garden, so embroidering flowers is a definite outlet for that unmet goal! I adore nature and gardening, the smell of rain on dry earth, Australian natives and the feel of the bush, and would dearly love to help ensure bees survive – I regularly like to include bees in my embroidery.”
By crafting embroidered pieces, Kimberly hopes to bring the beauty of Australian natives into homes, even if it’s with a small decoration.
London
