The Fallen

                                   

The Fallen

17" x 37"

Detail:  This work began on a hand dyed cotton cloth.  The only true colour is the first one.  I had thought to wait until I can get proper photographs taken by Sylvia Galbraith who always does such a wonderful job taking photos of my work.  However, due to COVID, I am not sure when I will be able to see her again so I thought I would post this now, to give you a sense of what I have been working on, with the hope of better photos to come.

                                               

 

Detail:  The shapes of the leaves were all inspired by actual leaves I picked up from my daily dog walking walk.  I traced them on to the cloth and then my fun began.  I love this detailed hand stitching work.  I feel like it is a bit like the work of Georges Seurat, the French post-impressionist painter.  He was well known for his style of pointillism.  Making little dots of paint colours with an incredible expertise in colour theory.  

Here is a detail from   Seurat's Parade de Cirque (1889) where you can see his images were created with tiny dots of colour.

                                                   

Detail:  I do not suggest for a moment that I have a handle on colour the way Seurat did.  In fact, I believe that I am slightly colour blind and so am always struggling with colour choices.  Nevertheless I muddle on.

Detail:  Since these photos were off in colour I had fun playing with the adjustment options, intensity, sepia, etc. which is why these images are so different.  When creating this work, I took advantage of the quilting lines to try and create movement.  A suggestion of the swirling fallen leaves.

Detail:  leaves are overlapping.

Detail ( I saturated the tones here)

Roadside

Fancy Meeting you Here

23.5 " x 18.5"

I created this piece from several different photographs I took while traveling in Africa.  Although my trip to Africa was many years ago, I still find that the photos draw me in, and invite inspiration.  I suppose that part of the reason is the 'otherness' was remarkable.  That's on the surface, but I feel that there is more to it than that.  How peaceful most appear to be.. I am not foolish and do understand that there are difficulties everywhere, and certainly the people of Tanzania and Rwanda have had no end of challenges. And yet, somehow, there was an equanimity there that I found remarkable.

Detail:  Hand dyed fabric with free motion machine stitching as well as hand embroidery.

This is another detail of the free motion.  The challenge for me it to create enough detail for interest while not transforming the portrait into a cartoon.  On this scale, (quite small) this is difficult since the work is on silk organza and cannot be undone.

most of the women we passed on the road carried supplies on their head.  It appeared as if people were always on their way somewhere, lots of pedestrians filled the roads.  People appeared unhurried but in constant motion.

One of my favourite books as a teenager was "Stranger in a Strange Land" and this was certainly my experience.  As I lay expectations upon expectations on myself and others, I envied the apparent simplicity and grace.