Drawing, sewing, Queene Anne of Hungary and Audrey Hepburn

(click to enlarge)

This week I experimented with drawing a bird -- about 13"x13"-- in Magic Marker on the cotton lining of some old curtains, and then appliqueing around it.  By using two sheets of the cotton, I was able to cut back into layers a la molas textiles, keeping the line of the drawing, and fill in the spaces between. It was interesting to start directly with the drawing this time, as opposed to cutting shapes from a pattern for the applique.  This process feels closer to painting to me -- starting with a drawing and filling in color with patches and "strokes" like the stripes above.

I'm obsessed with black shapes on color and pattern, as seen here in this portrait of  Queen Anne of Hungary by Hans Maler zu Scwhaz .  Love the ormanment hanging off the hat.

then there's this drawing I did when I was five that's all about clearly outlined shapes-- note the black--

taken from this cover for stories, now lost -- wonder what I was writing about then-- also an early interest in birds, storks in hats with baskets, anyway.

                                          or this Playschool puzzle that was daily activity for me when I was little.

Can't miss the similarity to original drawing.

As soon as I finished it I thought-- "Audrey"

guess it was the eye.

When I started stitching patterns on the face, I was thinking of Maori facial tattoos

which I was also thinking about when I did this textile in 2011.

This week I laid out my drawings-- done on old cotton sheets-- on my dresser.  There's something about the small originals that I find so endearing that I feel is lost in the translation to textile.

Or maybe I shouldn't compare, just look at them as two separate entities-- apples and oranges.

This is what the textile looked like pinned together just before I began sewing.
I enjoyed making this textile but am not sure how I feel about the result -- there's something jarring and maybe even kind of kitsch about it, which might make it interesting,or not. Do I like it? Does it fit with my idea of beauty? Sometimes things just have to sit for awhile before I know what I think.   I did enjoy this process,  the direct, and what to me felt like a natural progression from drawing to sewing.