We were swallowed up by the clouds on our way to the top of the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain. We imagined great vistas beyond but could not see them with our eyes. The air was like a cool damp blanket insisting on our silence. We could hear the moisture dripping from the trees below with the occasional resonant clinking of the lead Yak’s bell.
Atop the mountain sits the monastery and the keepers of the Yaks. The clouds parted just long enough to give us a little glimpse into these lives of graceful solitude before making our way back down from the mountain to visit a very special school.
We were welcomed to the school for Baisha Handmade Embroidery of the Naxi People with signs in English and Chinese explaining the history of silk embroidery and the school's mission to preserve the art. The individual silk threads are so thin as to be nearly invisible. Yet put together with careful trained hands, they create beautiful shimmering images on fabric.
This is my painting of a young embroidery school student.
“Silk Stitches”
By Vicky Gooch
16" x 12" Oil on Linen
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