
An old-fashioned hollyhock. Based on my own sketch.
Though I'm nearly finished-- the only part left are the center of the flowers-- I'm not sure that I'm satisfied with this one. Now that I look at it through the distance of a photograph, the green I used for the leaves appear a little too dark.

From the beginning, I knew that my choice was not true to life-- the actual leaves of the hollyhock are only a shade or so darker than the buds and the stem. Despite the difference, I deliberately chose something darker in an effort to express, in a single hollyhock stalk, the vivdness and vibrance of summer. And that-- stitching not just the thing but the mood or feel of a thing also-- is more important to me than realism anyway.
Ever since I started embroidery, my aim has been to create impressions, capturing the essence of the subject, rather than re-creating precise replicas. In fact, such an approach seemed to result in more lifelike forms-- in my mind, sort of like having to take a photo from a different angle than the intended view in order to achieve that same view. As long as it better communicates the image in my head, I don't mind a bit of botanical artifice. In this case though, I'm wondering if it was for the better... The leaves simply seem to outweigh the flowers.

So I pulled out all my greens and started assembling a new palette. The green in the middle is the one I used for the buds & the stem; the darker green would be for the leaves and the pale green, for the leaf veins. Still, I'm not entirely convinced that this would be better. And redoing would mean that the time & effort I spent to make sure that the thread strands weren't twisted-- a pet peeve for me, especially when doing satin stitch-- would have been for naught...!
To redo or not redo? I'll be mulling over this one for a while.