Rice Moon

Tuesday night the tide was low at 6 o'clock. 

Flashlights in hand, we stumbled out across the rocks.
There were lobsters. Brittle starfish. And we saw the head of an eel poking out from a crevice under a rock, opening and closing its mouth, with small, needle-sharp teeth. 

I got a creepy feeling. Of wading in the warm waters in the dark.

We went back to the shore and sat for an hour, sky-gazing.
A fabulous comet - or suchlike - flashed across the heavens, with a streaming orange tail.
Perhaps once in your lifetime you will be lucky enough to see that.  

Nilo is 10.
 I will soon be 42.

A strange series of daily sketches. 

Each a few minutes.
You're not allowed to think beforehand, or to make corrections afterwards. 

Those are the rules.
It is what it is!

9th January, Watercolor and Ink.

Rice Moon [base]

Design concept. © CatherineV. Bainbridge 2013

Rice Moon [faux block]

Design concept. © CatherineV. Bainbridge 2013

Rice Moon [faux repeat]

Design concept. © CatherineV. Bainbridge 2013

Rice Moon [simple detailing - indigo]

Design concept. © CatherineV. Bainbridge 2013

Rice Moon [more detailing - indigo/lavender]

Design concept. © CatherineV. Bainbridge 2013

Rice Moon [even more detailing]

Design concept. © CatherineV. Bainbridge 2013

Do what you can to keep going!

Hamadryas - Progressing

Neki had the idea that this design could be printed and then stitched on top. That's what I think too. A silk screen print. A stamp even. Unfortunately, neither of those methods are options currently. 

So it had to be the hard way... cutting out each individual form... and building up the colors by layer! 

It's not like I either have a large stash of cloths to choose from. I found some scraps which were kind of the colors that I had in mind, but are not the easiest for this kind of work. Some thin linens, a heavier linen, and a poly-cotton mix, all of which refused to pass with grace through the blades of the scissors, [admittedly, this might have been easier had I not been using my scissors to cut branches recently!] the grain shreading off in all directions, giving everything a very un-uniform edge. But I decided not to let that put me off, and kept at it. Perhaps it will be more interesting because of that?

Now, I have a massive headache, and the first piece ready to be stitched in months. 

But will I?

Here it is under construction... layer-by-layer!

What do you think?