Other Dragons

Oddball dragons plus some that are more "traditional" fantasy types.

Shadow Storm

Many years ago, in a land far away, a very good friend of mine (Gina Brockway), introduced me to the joys of cross-stitching. Of course, being an odd sort of person, who loves a good challenge and, incidentally, dragons, I wasn’t able to find the sort of pattern I wanted back then. So, I tried my hand at designing using a pencil and some graph paper. Shadow Storm was one of the first dragon patterns I created. She’s been redone in a number of different colors over the last 15 years, but this is the original and, I think, the best version.

Size = 15“ x 15“ (14 ct.)

Size = 12” x 15” (14 ct.)

Windrose

A compass rose is used to refer to a figure, usually found somewhere on a map, that depicts the 4 cardinal directions (North, South, East & West) and at least four ordinal directions (NE, SE, SW, NW). It can be fairly simple, like the one below, or very elaborate, depending on the utility of the map and the whim of the artist who drew it. Originally, the compass rose, was referred to as a wind rose and each of the cardinal directions was named for the wind that blew from that direction. Even in these days of electronic GPS devices, map reading is important to many people and the compass rose along with it.

The geometric characteristics of the compass rose also make it a very appealing design element for artists. This is my version of a compass rose consisting of four dragons with their heads to the center and tails forming the arrows of the cardinal points. The wings come together to form the ordinal directions. The circles in each quadrant indicate the phases of the moon and the large circle around the center represents the Earth.

Size = 18” x 14” (14 ct.)

Sentinel

This dragon began her career as a guardian for my nephew, Wesley, and Liliana, the daughter of a very good friend. Not being good at drawing people, I tried to come up with something else for her to protect when we decided to release the design. Realizing the multitude of human caused problems currently facing the earth and the organisms living here, I finally settled on this design. What is more important to all humans than the planet that gives us life? We can only hope that our species will somehow gain dragon’s wisdom and reverse at least some of the damage we have caused, before the Sentinel is forced to wake and do it for us……

Overall size = 22“ x 18“ (14 ct.)

Size of each dragon = 10“ x 8“ (14 ct.)

Storm Season

The dragons in this design were inspired by satellite images of hurricanes and less intense, swirly inland storms. Such large storms are predicted to become more violent as human activity continues to disrupt natural weather patterns. Hopefully, the more sedate dragons of this pattern are the worst storms any of us will ever experience.

Each dragon represents a season: Spring = upper left, Summer = upper right, Autumn = lower left, and Winter = lower right.

Dragons can be stitched in any colors.

Copper

This is my first, and possibly only, close-up design of a dragon’s head. There was only one to start with, but someone (I think it was Shari) suggested I should do a set in reverse colors, so here they are.

and Verdigris

Copper, of course is a warm, orangey colored metal. Verdigris is the greenish copper carbonate or copper chloride that coats the metal when exposed to the elements. It can be seen on the trim and roofs of many buildings, and most famously, on the Statue of Liberty in New York harbor.

Size = 11“ x 16“ (14 ct.)

Keeper of Dreams

Dreamcatchers originate with Native Americans. In one interpretation, the web-like design is meant to capture anything that may harm a sleeper. They were traditionally made from willow twigs and sinew or plant fibers. I had originally wanted to make a dreamcatcher design with a dragon made from part of the web and perhaps not immediately obvious. But, to do that, the design would have to be very large to get all the detail. So, I settled on this design in which the dragon enters from the outside and spirals toward the middle, with dragon scales hanging below. I will leave it up to you as to whether the dreamcatcher is allowing a good dragon dream to reach the sleeper or is preventing a bad one from doing so.

Size = 10” x 14” (14 ct.)

Size = 20“ x 15“ (14 ct.)

Lightning

I love storms. There’s nothing quite like sitting under the roof of a porch and watching the approach of an enormous thunderhead on the horizon, with lightning illuminating the insides of the clouds and streaking across the sky. Lightning seems very mysterious in origin, but it has to do with differences between the electrical charge between earth and the sky and the rubbing together of tiny particles. It’s much like the static shocks we give ourselves in the winter when walking across carpet, just on a vastly larger scale.

Sunrise

I have decided to start a new mythology of how the universe works. This dragon brings the morning sun from behind the earth and carries it into the sky. The sun is at her heart with colors of the morning sky radiating out from there along her wings and darkness dwindling behind in her tail. She meets her mate at mid-day and he carries the sun below the horizon, spreading night as he goes. So, this is a companion piece to “Sunset”. I don’t see very many sunrises, so I chose colors that I feel should be in a sunrise. Being a scientist, I should probably have said something educational about the sun, but this was more fun and I’m on vacation right now.

Size = 8“ x 14“ (14 ct.)

Sunset

Here is the mate of “Sunrise”, the dragon responsible for the arrival of night. Again, the sun is at his heart, with the colors of sunset radiating along the wings and darkness trailing along the tail. I love sunsets and their vibrant colors and variety. In my part of the world, sunsets in spring are sometimes enhanced by smoke in the air from burning prairies. Other times, they are made even more dramatic by the presence of a thunderhead flashing with lightning. These are my favorite sunset colors.

Size = 8“ x 14“ (14 ct.)

Moonrise

Here is the dragon that brings the night. She starts the evening with a red moon at her heart, but as she rises into the sky, the moon becomes brighter. The darkness that flows from her wings is spangled with the light of stars. Being far less energetic than her sister in “Sunrise”, she brings peace and calm with her. Life slows down and we all feel more relaxed in her light. Her mate is “Moonset”, who carries the moon into the light of morning.

Size = 14” x 8” (14 ct.)

Moonset

This is the mate of “Moonrise” and he’s responsible for the beginning of day. Moonset can be a very quiet time, when most day active organisms are still drowsing and night active critters are settling to sleep. It ends softly with a few chirping birds as sunlight starts to lighten the horizon. I’m rarely awake at this time if I can help it, but when I am, I find it very restful. Perhaps that is why I’m so rarely awake in the dawn.

Size = 14” x 8” (14 ct.)

The Study of Life

This is a stylized and dragonized version of the biohazard sign commonly seen in doctor's offices or Biology labs. This particular one hangs in my office (a good friend turned it into a wall hanging for me). The "words" are in ogham (read bottom to top, left to right) and say "Sgrudabh na beatha", which is Irish Gaelic for "The study of life". This design is huge, being 27 x 20 inches in 14 count, and so I have no plans to release it, though I am working on a smaller version that should be out later this year or early in 2024.

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