the words fell softly from the sky - words and images celebrating juxtapositions #1
For this painting i wanted to try something different in terms of the texture added by the stitches formed by hand. I made a little watercolour sketch and then used watercolour pencils to draw in some ideas for how they would interact with the painting. It's a very rough approximation since it's challenging (for me at least!) to create a replica of the painting with watercolour. I could photograph the cloth painting and then print it and mark it up I suppose but i like the looseness of quickly making a watercolour sketch and the joy of working with pigment, water and paper.
Thank you for joining me here for this quiet little conversation, taking a moment to be with these thoughts, words and images.
cloth palette for 'the words fell softly from the sky (juxtapositions #1)'
The blues in the cloth palette for this first juxtapositions painting speak to me of the summer skies here on the west coast of Canada, the clarity and pureness of the blues a familiar backdrop to days spent at the beach and on the sea.
I love taking oblique side angle shots. The image on the left was taken while evaluating progress on the design wall during the construction stage. You can see the way each piece of cloth in the painting is unique in colour, in shape, in texture. This is the second stage of building up what i think of as washes of colour and marks, with the first being the creation of the painted and marked cloth.
I love how serene and tranquil this painting feels, even though the blues are quite vivid and the hand stitches in the midsection are made with a hot pink thread.
The title of this painting references the hand stitches in pale grey in the top portion of the artwork signifying the way the words for these quiet little conversations are made known to me.
(You can click on this image to go to the page for this painting)
And as always, I want to express my gratitude to be living and working on the ancestral & unceded territories of the hən̓̓qəmin̓əm̓ and Sḵwx̱wú7mesh speaking peoples.I honour the incredible depths of grace, courage and perseverance of Indigenous Peoples, and look to them as an example as they find their voices amidst the noise and obfuscation of colonization.
until next time,
Mardell