I got some good work done on my Heron fabric painting today.
The idea for the Heron standing on a sphere underwater, but the water also being the night sky, came to me when I was reading about Heron in Ted Andrews’s book Animal Speak.
The image came to me when I read…. “[Herons] are the symbol of balance and they represent the ability to progress and evolve. The longer the legs, the deeper the water the heron will feed in. The deeper life can be explored….When it feeds it stands in the water, reflecting a connection to the earth-while implying the exploration of other dimensions on the earth.”
This morning I found the fabric for the sphere. I had so many ideas about what it would look like. And I tried a lot of different fabric before I found these two. I pieced them together and sewed the half sphere on the backing after placing the night sky fabric behind it.
I took out the hand-stitches from the quilt backing and let that define the dividing line between the “water” and “sky.” I will hand stitch that soft edge down. But I’m not sure what kind of stitch I’ll use yet.
Then, when Jon and I were on a call with our web designers I figured out how I would make the legs. They’ll be fabric and I’ll stitch them the same way I sew the branches on my fabric trees, by looping the thread around the fabric, pulling it into the shape I want it to be.
This way the legs and feet will pop off the backing a bit. And they’ll be a lot of fun to make. I can’t wait to get to them.
But next, I need to sew the Heron’s beak and eye. I’ll be using fabric and matt medium for the body, but I’ll stitch the eye and the fabric for the beak.
