There is so much work in this block that I am going to spread it over the two weeks. Block 1 this week and block 2 next, week 17. I think I should have needle turned the centres. Too late now.
There is so much work in this block that I am going to spread it over the two weeks. Block 1 this week and block 2 next, week 17. I think I should have needle turned the centres. Too late now.
Posted at 07:02 PM in Design | Permalink | Comments (0)
This weeks design is the result of seeing a face behind the face. Let me explain. There was one metal sculpture that was totally different from every other female face. It did not have anything in common with any other female face, in fact it had those same staring eyes you see on the males.
The whole face was so dissimilar to the others. Smaller finer nose, the lips were a different shape, the face seemed to be smaller. I kept looking at it thinking I just wasn't seeing it. Then I put it into Photoshop and another woman emerged. It was as though she was inside waiting to be found.
This face reminded me of a Picasso or Dali painting so I used the same type of blocks of colour and a black edge. I have quilted the background following the wave pattern of the printed fabric.
I think this is the end of faces for a while. I may come back to them at a later stage. I want to move on to some of the gardens around the Pagoda.
Posted at 11:23 PM in Design | Permalink | Comments (2)
It's only 11:10pm and I've finished this weeks design! Amazing.
This is the first of my female faces. It is a young girl. At first I thought there were lots of images of the same young girl but when I looked closely they were all different. Which one to choose? They all seemed to express something different. These are 6 of the 20 something young girl type faces.
I tried drawing them, tracing them and after several attempts at sewing them, that ended up in the bin, finally picked up the camera and went back to the pagoda to take some more photos. It was mid afternoon when I arrived and the angle of the sun seemed to reveal a whole new perspective. The actual size of the faces is about equivalent to the palm of your hand, they are not big. On the roof of the pagoda you don't really see them unless you look closely.Earlier in my research I came across the work of the "Norbulingka Institute" and I received a comment from Leslie Rinchen-Wongmo . This led me to her website and I have tried to use the same simplicity and purity that she uses in her work in this image.
Posted at 12:09 AM in Design | Permalink | Comments (4)
And, I have finally got those staring eyes right.
This challenge is proving to be a huge learning experience, especially these faces. I am starting to get he hang of free motion machine stitching and in these faces am starting to get a more even stitch. But working in fabric is so different from paint and pencil. I started thinking that I would just copy the photographs but then found that the faces would take on a life of their own when put on fabric. It is if they were saying "this is how I want to be seen this time." Writers often say that their characters take on a life independent of them. I feel the same thing with these faces. This is the face I started with. He seems so much more present when transposed to fabric.
I find the collages used in the animation of Mohammad Reza Abedi in the The Cypress and the Crow really interesting so have tried to use some of that in this face. I have never used collage before but will use it more in the future.
Posted at 01:03 PM in Design | Permalink | Comments (5)
This is the first time that I have drawn a picture onto fabric and I used "inktense" pencils to do this. One thing I noticed about the male faces is that they all seem to have protruding eye and I just couldn't draw this effect.
I tried by adding a light water-colour highlight but it didn't work. I just couldn't get that intense look. In fact the face is rather effeminate.
Next was the quilting. Completely uncharted territory for me. Firstly I don't have the range of colours in my thread collection so I am going to have to buy some more to morrow to finish the bottom half of the face. But I'm getting better at the stitching and will improve with more experience.
Posted at 11:50 PM in Design | Permalink | Comments (2)
Posted at 04:35 PM in Design | Permalink | Comments (2)
When I think of Asian elephants I think of India. This is where, with exception of the circus or the zoo, I have had my most personal experiences of elephants. For me. their presence is so intertwined with the life of the inhabitants that it is impossible to think of them separately.
The resounding images that stay with me of India is the beautiful colours of the sari's of the women. The use of gold stitching, beads and bright colours in their clothing as they would float like beautiful birds in the midst of rubbish and that dull colour of a mass of humans. Even doing hard manual labour, the women looked beautiful.
I used a batik base with a sheer printed fabric over the top of it and then stitched this with gold thread. I appliqued the design onto the sheer fabric first then layered it onto the batik.
I stitched the outline using a metallic thread and then outlined the piece using colonial knots and some back stitch. ( I used crotchet thread to do this.) So this weeks design.
The Bollywood elephant.
Posted at 03:30 PM in Design | Permalink | Comments (0)
This weeks design is centred on the elephants that stand guard at the entrance to the Pagoda.
I have been doing some research into Nepal recently. I knew it was located in the Himalayan Mountains to the north of India. That there had been the murder of the Royal Family, that this is where the Sherpas come from, that Mount Everest is located there, that some good textiles come from this region. But that is about the depth of my knowledge. The topography of the country ranges from valleys and plains that are only 100 -330m above sea level to the High Himalayas where the highest mountains in the world are found.
The climate ranges from tropical through subtropical, cool temperate, temperate, alpine to arctic. This means that there is a huge range of vegetation's and animals. Because of it's location there has been waves of immigrants and invasions into the region mixing with the indigenous population. In the 1991 census the population was 19.6 million. This included fifty different groups with their sub-divisions and classes, each having its own cultural background and language.
The two major religions are Hinduism and Buddhism which have influenced each other and in some places are found to represent an amalgam of these and other religious beliefs. You can see this in the Pagoda. I was really confused at one point as I was sure I was looking at the same art I had seen in India but this was a Buddhist Temple. Well not in the strictest sense.
Elephants are seen all over India. Even today in the chaotic traffic of Delhi you will often see an elephant in amongst the traffic.
In States such as Rajastan the elephants live in stables attached to the houses of their owners. They are painted and decorated lovingly. I like the folk art type representations of the elephant that you see in textiles and it is this tradition that I will draw upon for my design.
(These Images were taken on a trip to India in 2006)
When you stand next to an elephant you have to admit they are impressive!
Posted at 08:49 PM in Design | Permalink | Comments (1)