Scrimshaw skull

Look I finished a thing!!!

At the start of the year I decided to do a sketch a day for a year. It didn't last very long as I quickly accepted that most some days I don't have the time or the inclination to do it, BUT I did end up with a nice little pile of 'to-be-stitched' sketches and this is based on one of those.
This idea has been blowing around my headspace for a while and I actually have few sketches on this theme. This wee guy is a child's skull with traditional-ish scrimshaw design on it. It's fairly small, about 4 inches high and stitched with 1 strand of floss.

I initially didn't have the clouds but am so glad I added them- they made it work. The seagulls make me laugh because my art teacher at school absolutely hated birds drawn as 'm' shapes! I had to sneak a whale in there too hiding in the water.

I sort of love the back of it too- I always have messy backs and they remind me of sketchy drawings.

So now it's back to the sketchbook to pick something else to stitch...