North American Indian

This is one of my favorite pieces. I stitched him about two years ago. I loved how the piece developed using the contrast of light and dark and the simplicity of just using just the one colour thread. What appealed to me was the arrangement of his feathers and I liked how his face was partially hidden. He was stitched on 18 count aida using 2 threads. At one stage I had actually thought about have a montage of this one image stitched on different colour fabrics - but if wishes were horses, beggars would ride... So he is alone. He has been packed away since I completed him but perhaps it is time he saw 'the light of day'...

Thinking about it as I write this - perhaps this image takes me back to my fabric printing and lino cutting days . There was some sense of the unexpected as I stitched this, even though it came as a kit complete with graph and picture. Like my printing days there was as an anticipation of seeing the finished piece - because no matter what you thought you would see there always seemed to be something that was unexpected... I was pleased with the finished result - it was a departure from what I usually stitched - and there was a 'stillness' about the image that touched me. Definitely unexpected...

Perhaps that is why I use to like wax resist work - working with layers of wax and colour - manipulating the wax to allow colour bleeding was all part of the process that never ceased to surprise me with the finished results. I liked being part of the process. Now this sounds silly - but it was like I was 'one' with the image or the process - somehow joined in its creation... I can understand when people say that they become so involved with a piece they are working on that time ceases to be and that they feel part of something else...

I remember years ago working on a pastel drawing on the kitchen table which in an area that was part of the communal living area... The telly was on and my two daughters were backwards and forwards doing their 'thing' For the hours that I worked on the drawing I felt like I was in this cocooned world somehow detached from the activity around me... I 'emerged' with colour across my face where I had brushed stray hair out of the way my clothes were covered in pastel dust and I was tired but content...

Are these all clues? Is this all telling me something? Signposts?