Beginning

I have started a new piece. I hesitated a bit about showing it at this stage, because it's only just begun. But I am working very intuitively on this one, and following the process may be interesting.

It started with the little piece of arashi shibori that was left over from the Mariner's Compass. I was drawn to the mirrored image, which immediately evoked for me the reflection of mountains and sky on water. I plan to work into the shapes to bring this image out.

It is layered on a very old piece of Japanese silk and cotton cloth, and appliqued with a beautiful horse from another vintage scrap of Japanese cloth.

The text is a slight misquote from Rumi (just before he says "There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the earth.") I tried using the Faber Castell brush pen to draw the lettering before embroidering, which seemed to work well. As usual, I will embroider the words in random order to hopefully avoid an obvious improvement (or deterioration) in my stitching as I go.

I think this is a wind horse. As I seem to be having a bout of 3 a.m. insomnia, this cloth will be at hand to work on until I become drowsy again. Maybe that way dreams will enter it.