Mother Mary’s Hands and Bouquet of Brushes

I got to my studio early this morning and looked at my Mother Mary and the birds, both on the floor next to each other. I wasn’t sure which to work on, so looked some more and waited.

It only took a few minutes for me to decide.  It was time to work on  Mother Mary’s hands and paintbrushes.  I always get a little nervous when it’s time to do a major part, like this, when I’m working on a piece.  But there also always comes the time when I find I’m ready to do it. Or maybe it’s just that it doesn’t feel right avoiding it anymore.

I did her hands first but forgot to take pictures of the process.  I didn’t forget when it came time for the brushes.

Once again I pinned my drawing of the brushes onto the fabric I was stitching on.  I chose a piece of muslin, it felt like the right color and texture. Then I stitched over the lines using red thread.

In the photo above you can see how I started to peel the paper away after sewing over the lines.

Then I sewed over the outline adding some details.

Next came the brush hairs…

…then the  paint on the brushes.

Here are the brushes in the hands.

Now that I have her face and hands and brushes I can start putting Mother Mary together.

I don’t have all the details with her feet worked out.  I want to put conch shells and a crescent moon, like Our Lady of Guadalupe has at her feet.  But that will come.

Next, I’ll cut some batting to size and a backing that I can stitch through when I sew down her face, hands, brushes, and all that blue lace.