The Exemplary 2025
1st Place, Professional Adaptation

I wanted to create a holiday piece for Christmas. Since I enjoy Zentangle so much, I looked for inspiration and found a seasonal doodle. I made a few changes and decided on some great stitches to incorporate. I colored the leaves with a marker and then added the stitches. Initially, I planned to color just a few leaves, but as I was stitching, I realized that the open stitches revealed too much of the white canvas, and the sharp points made it difficult to insert the stitches. Consequently, I had to restart two of the leaves. Such is the process of designing.