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Megan Zaniewski is a self-taught hand embroidery artist based in the United States. When Bored Panda reached out to her and asked her to tell our readers a bit about herself, she answered, “I specialize in realistic thread painting and stumpwork (3–dimensional) techniques that bring animal subjects into life-like detail and animation. I am fascinated by all animals and have embroidered over 70 different species in the past 2 years.”
Megan has quite a following on her Instagram of over 41k followers and in the past, she drew the attention of art lovers for her embroideries of insects that were special because the wings were sticking out, so the images seemed even more realistic.
This time we were interested in her series with animals plunging into water or creating bubbles while underwater. In general, Megan is inspired by her children who see the world through different eyes than adults do.
The thing that inspired her to create embroideries of animals diving into water was curiosity about what is happening when ducks go under the water: “I frequently observed geese and ducks at a nearby pond, and I considered how our view of them is often limited to what is visible above the surface. We see only half the picture. I wanted to explore the challenge of embroidering these birds and other aquatic animals moving in the water and share a whimsical view of the often unseen world below the water’s surface.“
We asked Megan what she likes to embroider the most and it wasn’t surprising that the objects we see depicted on her Instagram are the ones she enjoys doing the most. It’s things like “animals, especially birds and insects.”
Megan doesn’t make a living out of her art and for now, “embroidery remains primarily a creative outlet,” but she started selling her works earlier this year and she has a shop on Etsy.
Have you ever heard of Megan before and seen any of her works? What do you think of this series of animals in water and under water? Leave your reactions in the comments and if you want to see more of Megan's art, follow her on Instagram. Also, let us know which embroideries you liked the most by upvoting them.
