My all time favorite food is Indian, so when Helen picked these colors, my mind went to all the delicious curries, tandoors and masalas I've eaten. I know that in England there are lots of wonderful Indian restaurants, but we only have a few in Ventura County, so a few years ago my husband and I took some Indian cooking classes at a local woman's house. She sold her own home made spice combinations and we were able to see the various seeds before they were mixed into their wonderful combinations.
My inspiration for this piece came from the seeds I had seen. I started with various fabrics I had manipulated in the past through either rust dyeing or screenprinting. They started out yellow, brown and orange, then after stitching, I threw them in a dye bath of burnt orange. The center leaves didn't have much contrast, so I bleached them out. I hand stitched some smaller seeds on to add a little contrast. Gastronomically speaking, this has been my favorite challenge!
The texture and color on this is great.
ReplyDeleteYum - looks good enough to eat!! The texture is wonderful.
ReplyDeleteOh! Karen! This evokes spicy indian food instantly for me -- all that color and texture, a sense of bubbling energy and the contrast of the pale, repeated leaf shapes... I'd love to have stood over your shoulder to see how you did this because it's mesmerizing to look at all the textures and colors. Wow. This might be my favorite of any of yours.
ReplyDeleteThe lush textures are a joy to behold.
ReplyDeleteHow do you get all that texture and still control the size of the piece?! I'm intrigued.
ReplyDeleteThe colors are wonderful and the black is the perfect contrast. I also love the five circles on the left. Several of our spice quilts incorporate circles... interesting.
Ditto what Diane says! This is very evocative of indian spices, seeds and leaves. I love that you've been able to convey that in a completely abstract manner. I can almost smell the food!
ReplyDeleteEveryone has already said all the things I am thinking about this piece! It is mouth-watering and really does make me almost smell the curry and spice. The subtle changes in the colors is remarkable.
ReplyDeleteI just adore those little stitched seeds sprinkled through. This really is just like looking into a bubbly pot of rogan josh
ReplyDeleteI just love your textural pieces and would love to run my hand over this one. The seed images are lovely and while I've not tried Indian food, to my memory, I would love to try some now after reading your post.
ReplyDeleteI was looking forward to some good Tex Mex in Houston but maybe we will also have to find an Indian restaurant - I wonder if there's such a thing?! If not, maybe you and Ted could cook for us.
ReplyDeleteYou've certainly concocted a very appealing quilt based on this inspiration. I can almost smell the spicy aromas.