I started working on a new fabric painting today. I’m not going to write about it a lot tonight, mostly because I’m too tired. Even though it’s only 5:30 it feel like it’s a lot later to me.
I did figure some important parts of the fabric painting out today.
I got the right backing and cut it to size. I also figured out the scale of the image, which is my version of the Virgin Mary, or Blessed Mother, as Sue Silverstein calls her. I mention Sue because it’s her way of believing in Mary that has rubbed off on me and made me want to make this piece. But I’ll write more about that another day.
By the end of the day, after much experimenting, I decided to go with my first idea of making Mary’s hair, which will also be the traditional blue robe she’s wrapped in, from lace that I’ll dye blue.
The idea to make her hair and gown one comes from an 18th-century wood sculpture of Mary Magdelene.
I’ll stitch her face on the doily in the top photo (her eyes will be bigger than the ones I drew in with pencil) and stitch her hands from another doily similar to it. But that’s all I know about it right now.
As usual, once I start working with the materials I’ve chosen, I’ll have a better sense of how I’ll put it all together and what it will look like.
