Sunday, February 06, 2011

"Her Radiance" (11x17)


I've been even more MIA than usual, working on a big project at work, and not having a lot of spare time.  However, I've been working on this piece a bit at a time, using one of Flor Larios's fabric images.

I had the idea that I wanted to use prairie points as a textural feature, and some of my extensive collection of metal buttons.  After some initial clumsy construction errors, this piece came together very nicely.  Friday I came home late and buzzing with adrenaline, so I sat down to finish the machine sewing, and then on Saturday, I added the hand work.  There are times when I just need to sew for the sake of my soul, and I finished this piece in just that mood.


I embellished this Virgin of Guadalupe image with machine stitching and embroidery, which also acted as quilting.  Don't you love her blue eye shadow?  That's what drew me to this sweet image in the first place.  I remember shopping for a Virgin of Guadalupe statue in Tijuana and selecting from the ones whose makeup wasn't too heavy-handed and whose eyeshadow wasn't too obvious.


I used a variety of plain metal buttons.  You can see my free motion quilting on her dress, and the blue inner border was cut from a pillowcase my mother sent me.

I've continued to use vintage linens for small quilt backs.  I used half a doily for the rod pocket, and I cut the back from an embroidered dresser scarf.  


The title of this piece comes from the Nican Mopohua, the narrative of the apparitions of the Virgin of Guadalupe to Juan Diego, written in the 1500s.  On the label I've included a quote from the narrative in the original Nahuatl language and in English: Her radiance was like precious stones, it seemed like an exquisite bracelet.  This is what I wanted to capture with the prairie points and the buttons: a picture of the light radiating from her person. 

Have a creative week everyone. 

9 comments:

Rian said...

Absolutely top-drawer fabulous Barbara! Yes, I do love that blue eyeshadow.

Vicki W said...

Beautiful!

DebbyMc said...

This is lovely. I really like the prairie points and buttons. They draw the eye out and continue the motion of the rays in the center panel. Very nice!

kay said...

I can't add to what everyone else has said. This is superb!

Debra Dixon said...

Looking very good! Excellent idea to use the prairie points!

allie aller said...

Sublimely realized, coming from your soul as it has. I know She is pleased!

dee said...

Love what you've done with this sweet image of the Virgin. Such a lovely color pallete as well.

Magpie Sue said...

I can see I've got some catching up to do! You may have been preoccupied with your big project at work - I've just been repeatedly ill :-P What a drag.

I love this piece. She's absolutely lovely. I especially like the way you handled the back and rod pocket. Gotta remember that...

florpopof@hotmail.com said...

Hi Barbara,

Love he quilt! Very pretty! Thank you for the link to my Etsy shop, very kind of you.

Flor

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