Elsy Menko – Decay #4
This sunflower which in its heyday happily looked up to the sun is now approaching the end of its life cycle and is wilting. Its appearance is of no consequence to its many uses extending far beyond its decorative value. Sunflowers are a valuable crop for food (a.o. seeds in my daily granola), animal feed, oil, renewable energy production and more. I did not know that the stalks can be processed into a fiber for textiles!
Various commercial cotton fabrics, tule, machine and hand stitching (French knots), Neocolor II crayons, watercolor pencils.
FIFTEEN BY FIFTEEN 
I love your idea, design and fabric choices. French knots do an amazing job adding texture. Bravo!
Great fabric choice, the poor sunflower is truly declining and the muted fabrics behind it accentuate this. great work.
A beautiful piece with a slightly sad flower.
Very beautifully done work!
The sunflower is a fascinating flower. I have never thought through all its uses, so this was an interesting read.
I love sunflowers and I have done several pieces with decaying ones previously. Yours is so realistic and I love your fabric choice. Well done !
Beautiful and well-constructed. The multitude of french knots is impressive. This is a wonderful quilt.
Sunflower is one of the flowers I’ve worked on a lot over the years. It’s full of magic and so is this work. With the petals that can no longer hold themselves up. Beautiful work and the choice of colors is excellent.
What a lovely way to honour this once lovely flower, and to show that decay does not always mean the end of something. great attention to detail and choice of fabrics. Well done
Beautiful interpretation of the sunflower’s cycle, is there one more to come of the final stages back to seeds?
Lovely work showing how useful the sunflower remains even in decay. Some great details here and excellenf fabric choices.
One of my favourite flowers and so beautifully integrated in your work. I love the colours you have used and the shape and composition of the wilting flower. Great attention to details such as the embroidery for the seeds. Incredible piece. Bravo!
I see this kind of decayed sunflowers when I look outside right now.
You created this realistic sunflower very well. Great composition. Well done.
This is such a wonderful piece. I love how the decayed sunflower still has a lot of charm. The different colors of the french knots makes it so realistic.
Beautiful colors and composition.
I like the idea showing the evolution of decay of the sunflower. Your choice of fabric colors and stitching depicts the decay very realistically. Nicely done.
Perfect capture of beauty and dignity in this sad process!