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.

Bush Sentinelle Experiment 3.

As with the first two figures, I worked the body of this one in a hoop. I kept the blossom in dark pinks and the caps in brown-grey. On the leaf side, this time I worked the leaves in dense fly stitch to get complete coverage. I was tempted to add some pink stab stitches on the right side, but took advice from a Guild friend and left it.                               

I appliqued the figure on to the background fabric (Bush Plum Ecru by Polly Wheeler Napurrula )so that the head was centred in a large pattern circle. It's what attracted me to this fabric. As with Experiment 2, I cut the halo ring away and fussy-cut the leaves inside the halo. I was attracted to the green stamen on the fabric and positioned the head to pick them up.                                         

I didn't have a stitch or colour plan in mind but worked it out as I went. I satin stitched the leaves lengthwise, couching them down with sparce fly stitches. Around their base I added a couple of rows of chain stitch.

The 'gems', as before, were worked in padded satin stitch. I used gimp around the face and between the gems. It really was a matter of 'how does this need to look?' then 'what would give me that effect?'

This is how that looked on the fabric.   

 I managed to construct a 60cm cushion cover with a fold-over on the back, rather than a zip, but was concerned that it might gape open without a fastener of some sort. I was reluctant to add buttons in case they were uncomfortable on a cushion designed to be leaned or sat on. After discussing it with Margaret Morgan at the Guild, I came home, used a small piece of left-over fabric to make loops and settled on two beaded brooches as buttons.

I had bought these at the National Museum of the American Indian in NYC around 2009. They are hand-made and had safety pins as a means of attachment. I removed the safety pin and stitched them on. 

I think they look quite good, they are fairly soft if you make contact with them and I like the First Nations connection.

This is not as spectacular as Experiment 2, but I am satisfied with it.  I feel comfortable with the merging of fabric designed and printed by Indigenous artists, this European-influenced figure and a koala. 

I have tried to think, work and construct it respectfully. I hope it works that way for others.