The devil is in the detail

Week 26 - The half way point

Yes 6 months have elapsed since I began this challenge.  I am surprised that I have been able to keep at it.  But they do say that if you do a thing long enough it will turn into a habit.

This week I continue with the goddess of compassion.  I have decided to make the aquamarine colour the connective element it these pieces.  I looked at the statue and found her feet beautiful to contemplate.  I know that sounds strange but the more I looked at the detail the more serene I found them. 

Every time I am in the Pagoda there are always people coming and going.  Tourists, passers by, the curious and non ever seem to take the time to contemplate the beauty of the place.  It is, just take a quick look, a photo and then on with our lives.  To represent this I used the modern shoe fabric. I kept the blue fabric continuous, to show the length of time the statue represents and the shoe fabric disjointed, like our modern day lives.

I found trying to outline the design on the legs very difficult because of the size.  Perhaps I should have just drawn this in and I used the aquamarine thread to out line the legs to represent a sort of aura.

week 25

I have now turned my attention to a dusty sculpture that sits behind a very scratched perspex cover in a dark corner of the pagoda.  It is in a difficult position to get photos of, yet, the more I look at it the more I see in the detail.  So, it fits this challenge.  It is called the Lokewesaar Goddess and is an icon important to Tibetan Buddhism.  She is also known as the Goddess of compassion.  I just can not get a photo of the complete statue and I can not find an image that does it justice.

She has many faces and it is the huge number of arms that first catch your attention.  When you look at the hand there is a design on the palm which is supposed to be an eye for her to see all the suffering in the world.

Aquamarine is the colour of compassion.  This week I have used that colour as my background and on this I have placed two of the hands and drawn the 'eye' on the palm of each.

 

Week 24

Well this is it for the bamboo, the last one.  I was a bit ambitious here.  I wanted to recreate the chaos that is the inside of the bamboo grove.  It is a mess.  Stems going in all directions and leaves everywhere, yet, there is a wild sort of organisation here. 

 

Doing this challenge drives me crazy, but, I learn something new each week.  This week I used a piece of green fabric I had dyed for the background.  What I should have done is quilt the bamboo leaf pattern before I did the applique.  Working in a 6" square I found quilting amongst all the shapes trying.  I also had to settle for a representation not an exact copy.  There were just too many shapes and layers in the original photo.  Still, I'm not unhappy with the result.

Week 23

I have been having trouble getting into TypePad and I just can't get a good photo of this weeks work.  So I will have to use what I have.

I used rayon type thread and it really reflects the light so this is not a true representation of the piece.  There were new bamboo shoots coming up in the grove.  Some were covered with this white mould (I think), I'm not sure if this is normal of if some kind of insect has got into the bamboo.  Not all shoots were the same colour and I find it amazing that a bright green stem can come from this drab shoot.

The more I look at the detail of the bamboo the more I see.  No wonder Asian artists find this grass so inspiring.  I just love these really dark stems some almost look black.