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Saturday 31 May 2014

INDIAN FLAVOURS!

Living where I do, with the largest population of Indians in SA, we are influenced daily by their culture, fearless use of colour and spicy, perfumed foods.  This colour just cried out "indian".


I have once again used a piece of my break down screen printing fabric (really proving quite useful) as the colours remind me of the marigold lays that are often hung across the doorways to their homes.   At one stage I was quite interested in Mandalas and even tried to challenge myself to create one a week which slowly faded.  This one was stitched and then painted. Finally, I have brought in the rows and rows of pyramids of ground spices that are found on the tables in the markets.  Great colour! Great smells!

Although left to the last minute, I had fun putting this one together.

10 comments:

  1. I can smell those spices. Lovely piece, Phil. That break-down fabric is proving very useful - perfect foil for the rest of the piece.

    I read an article about making each corner different in a piece and you have achieved that here (love the quiet black triangles in the top left).

    Hilary

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  2. The background fabric contributes to the feeling of "the mysterious East", as do the shadows in the upper right and on the cones.

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  3. Love your design Phil and it really brings to life the markets with the colour of the spices and the eastern feel to the whole thing. Makes me very homesick for Durban.

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  4. I enjoy the line quality and yes the use of greyed down black is very effective with this spicy palette. It has a mystical feeling too.

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  5. Great use of the theme colour. So evocative of Indian spices and atmosphere. Great job!

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  6. I too was drawn to the ideas but couldn't have come up with an interpretation like this. I love the contrast between the breakdown printing and the formal mandala shape.

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  7. It really does resonate of spices, and of course, India with the mandala motif. Was that done with machine embroidery?

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  8. Love this! I remember seeing piles of spices in other countries, and agree the colour for this round lends itself beautifully to this interpretation. Must try and remember Hilary's comment about every corner being different, I've not heard of this design concept before.

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  9. Ha, for a last minute piece it is quite stunning. Pyramids are a design element.

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  10. ooo - i can smell and feel and see it all
    i miss durbs a lot!
    a great piece!
    well designed and i love the quilting

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