What, then, is the significance of sixteen? The number appears again in the title of another piece in the exhibition: Lunar Sixteen on Purple. And there are sixteen pieces in this Marazion show.

The answer is less intriguing than might have been expected – perhaps. Four larger doilies needed lunar support and twelve doilies fitted the bill perfectly, making sixteen in all. In the time left before this catalogue had to go to print before the opening of the show, the exhibition was settled at sixteen pieces. Still, the coincidences have a degree of serendipity about them. Sweet sixteen has an eternal charm.

All of which still leaves the question mark around Purple Sixteen. Time for some truth-telling. My original idea was to make a piece with the words: Speak Truth To Power woven into a purple background. Then I decided to change the message to Speak Truth 2 Power for reasons of design. And then I realised that the stitching of the letters was not working.

At that point, I was tempted to abandon the project but looked hard at the plan and decided it could work with fifteen rectangles replacing the letters and a square substituting for the number. Purple Sixteen emerged, with its hidden message.

My Purple Sixteen piece measures 31.5” x 28”.