Goddess in the Boat, Keeper of the Space

I got my fabric paints today and tried them out on some scraps of the quilt that I’m using in my wall hanging, Goddess in the Boat.

But it didn’t look like I expected it too.

I think it’s partially because the quilt I’m using it on is old and has a lot of texture to it.  I tried a few different techniques, but each time I pictured it on my wall hanging, it felt like I was trying to cover something up, to hide something.

My idea was to paint the ground behind the Goddess in the boat one color (a pale blue is what I had in mind) to make it more unified but still allow the texture of the quilt, with all its imperfections come through.  Also, you’d be able to see the Goddess better against the blue background.

But when I looked at it again, I realized that the background already is a unified color (shades of white).

But I still needed the Goddess to stand out more.

That’s when I decided to make the goddess yellow and leave the background in its natural state.

I gave her a little more hair too, now there’s no missing her.

Then I began working on another goddess in the lower left corner on the other side of the flying egg.  I got the idea for her pose in the threshold from a photograph of Georgia O’Keeffe at her house in Abiquiu.

After making her,  she seems to be a keeper of the space.

I’m not sure what I’ll do next….