Bush Sentinelles Experiment 4.

The fabric for this one arrived safely on the first of a 7 day isolation period because I was a close COVID contact. 

The fabric came brilliantly packaged - simply placed inside a cardboard envelope. It travelled well, fitted easily through my letterbox slot and didn't create waste that will last decades! 

I had begun embroidering the figure before the fabric arrived, using a more solid fill on the leaves than the previous ones and trending to reds rather than golds in the blossoms.

I had, this time, ordered enough fabric to comfortably make a 60 cm cushion cover. I had plenty to make an envelope closure, but chose to put in a zip.

I cut out and appliqued the body of the Sentinelle on to the cover, cut away the halo and around the leaves in the coronet.Then the real work and challenge began. 

I wanted this one to use the red-blue end of the sun spectrum in contrast to the gold-orange end of the second experiment. I used a range of threads - some silks, some perle 5 & perle 8 cotton and quite a bit of DMC Etoile - my favourite at the moment.

It took quite a while. I used a 12" hoop, but even so I needed to work it in several hoop moves, leaving a thread hanging at the end of each ray to pick up on a later move.

I added the headband part way through the rays to see how it fitted together. The colour in this photo is far too pink, but I can't correct.

It is hard to capture the impact and contrast of these two versions of the Bush Sentinelle. The background fabric does, as I expected, change behind the predominantly gold or  red thread.  It's a polished cotton and has a lovely sheen, especially in light. 

I took this as the late afternoon light shone through my west window.

The four experiments are now completed. I don't have 4 x 60 cm cushions to show them properly together.

I think they look good, and tell a story. I hope that I have not broken any taboos in creating them. The Sentinelles are European-inspired figures. Does the addition of Australian flora and fauna to the design link them sufficiently to an Australian landscape? 

I have tried to blend the figures into their backgrounds. My researches into Goddess embroidery has further convinced me that both now and for as long a time as we have archaeological evidence, borrowing and adapting  in art and craft, as in language and ideas, is the norm. 

There is also evidence that solar goddess figures feature in the mythology of most cultures, over thousands of years,  including First Nation stories, as, almost universally, focus for metaphors of meaning shift from earth to the sky. I did not begin thinking of this as a Goddess figure, but see it that way now.

I hope these contribute to discussion, connection  and conservation.