Painting With Thread

At first glance, Cayce Zavaglia’s portraits appear to be classical oil paintings. But take a closer look.

- Charlotte A. Lanham

Cayce Zavaglia is an artist with a unique twist to her work. Instead of painting with a brush, she sews with a needle. Instead of working with oils or watercolors, she stitches with single strands of embroidery floss. She calls this style “painting with thread.”

“Painting with tiny stitches is not as fast as painting with a brush,” she says. “It requires a lot of patience, and I stop often to rethread my needle. When people ask how long it takes to complete a portrait, I tell them two months—nearly 200 hours!”