Tapa fish

I’ve been thinking a lot about fish recently, and been sketching and digitising fish decorated with motifs taken from tapa barkcloths of the Pacific islands. These designs, mostly geometric in nature, are similar to some seen in batiks, but they’re generally rougher and a lot simpler. Even so they make surprisingly effective embellishments to organic shapes

Tapa designs from Pacific bark cloth

Here are some applique fish inspired by tapa designs. The stitchouts are by me and by Cherri Kincaid. I used appliqué fabric painted in tones that reflected the warm browns and golds of tapa cloth, but Cherri adopted a more original and colourful approach