Freehand embroidery of sea bream fish

Many moons ago I lived in the Mediterranean and snorkelled almost ever hour in the sweltering sunshine.  Underwater life is bountiful on the coastline of the Aegean and Mediterranean Seas and I learnt to recognise and understand the most common fish that I swam with.

Of course I couldn’t resist painting them (scroll to see a few) and a few years ago I put needle to fabric and stitched a sea bream (known as a Çipura in Turkey).  Fresh cipura is one of the most delicious fish on the menus of the Aegean fish restaurants, and my favourite.

The freehand embroidery of the sea bream fish was made into a detachable notebook cover.