[wpg]
I’ve been planning a large peacock embroidery involving the whole peacock not just the imagery of tail feathers. I started out drawing it out carefully but the composition didn’t feel quite right, I went ahead anyway but after I started painting it out in the silk, the feeling continued and the imagery felt stilted. So I decided to jump ship but to be able to recycle the silk already stitched on the frame, I coloured it all over by splashing ink and then rolling over it with a print roller. The bubbles in the ink left a nice pattern on the silk which I am sure will end up in other works at some point. I then went to the other extreme and painted out a light hearted peacock with a bit of gold gutta. I am not crazy about this either because I feel it’s not “deep” enough. Sometimes one has to go on more of a journey to arrive somewhere otherwise there is little satisfaction. I’ve gone back to my sketchbooks this afternoon to look at some images and have a go at digitizing them and see what comes out of that. Another day, will show another way.
On the Edge of a Feather
