The Accidental Embroiderer

Fish in a wave

Next there’s another piece from the Cape Dorset series – that is, a design inspired by the wonderful art of the inhabitants of Cape Dorset, on Baffin Island in the Arctic. The work that caught my eye this time was a little school of very simple, arrow-head-shaped fish. I was fascinated by the simplicity of the fish shapes – so different from the detailed and complicated way that I usually draw fish.

Images-17 copy

Baffin Island fish

The more I thought about it, the more those simple little fish seemed be a part of the water they were swimming in, so I put together a group of little triangular fish that looked as if they might be dissolving in a big blue wave.

Fishtriangular

Silver fish in a wave

I may have overdone the subtlety – maybe the fish should have been a little darker. But they’re stitched out with metallic thread (which doesn’t show up well on the scan) and the effect of the reflection on the silver is nice, so maybe it doesn’t matter that they’re a bit pale in the scan – they look better in real life. Looking at them I can see that I'm still trying to make things too complicated – these fish lack the elegant simplicity of the original Baffin Island fish. But I'll try to remember that "less is more" (well, sometimes, anyway…)

6 thoughts on “Fish in a wave

  1. Mia, I like your interruption much better than where you got your inspiration. Maybe one of the problems with the original is that there are not any eyes on the fish and they look like arrow heads strewn on the ground. Your waves add so much to the design along with the sea grass on the bottom.

  2. Hi Mia, Your imagination and creativity continues to surprise me. This is indeed another spectacular work of art. Love all of the variations of blues and greens you have incorporated in this new creation on your hand painted fabric.

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