For the course Summer of Tapestry 2025 (taught by Rebecca Mezoff) prompt on color, I started with my orchid flower in the top right corner of the collage. Did three drawings of it. Settled on the abstract pentagon one - orchid has five petals and can be simplified to pentagon shape. Also my teen is fascinated by math, and likes to do it even for fun in their free time, so math and geometric shapes are more on my mind as a result.

For colors: I chose the yellow and green because the main conlor of the orchid is a greenish yellow, and chose the red for the lip that is also closish to original color. But decided to do the veins in purple because I like the combination of yellow and purple and wanted more colors.

My husband was reminded by my pentagon abstract orchid drawing of Salvador Dali’s The Sacrament of the Last Supper painting (bottom left corner in collage). As I wove, the lip of the orchid started looking more like a chalice. My husband volunteers a lot at church.

 As I wove, once I reached the upper orchid petal, I thought to blend the green and yellow into the greenish yellow that is closer to the orchid’s color, and to curve the veins more. A moth emerged. I thought: how fitting! This type of orchid is called a moth orchid. And also my daughter is so interested in insects that she plans to become an entomologist.

In my drawing I had planned to do all corners in green, but it occurred to me that a different color would be better. Brown for wood. In nature these orchids grow on trees, and as houseplants are potted in bark. Plus in our home where this orchid is, we also have many bookshelves that are brown, books being another interest of our family.
And of course orchids and tapestry are among my interests. So many of my family’s interests woven into this small (3” by 3.5”) tapestry. 

PS: if only my menapausal brain stopped confusing “pentagon” with “pentagram” that would help.