I GOT FISH...

Here is a very rough sketch from my visual diary of an idea for the 'rainbow fish' quilt - that is its working name... My idea - at this stage is to have fish emerging from the end of the rainbow - the fish closest to the front will be whole, 3D and embellished - the further back the fish the less detail it will have until one will be half visible and a stitched outline only. I have had a very quick read about the symbolism of fish, dolphins, rainbows and mandalas and there is a definite theme which have 'connecting' elements for me. I guess the more I get into this the more ideas will develop and very likely change. That is why I have begun the visual diary - a first for me - as I am interested to see from this point how far my ideas go and what changes. I am thinking at this stage I want to proto type one of the fish - as a closer look at the original picture I see that the fish look to be 'swimming' in a set direction - once I have that I think that the natural swirl of the rainbow will fall into place. At this moment I am thinking fabric paint for the rainbow. I have had a thought that I want the centre to be round and the outside borders to be square as is the formation of a traditional mandala. Not sure yet where the dolphin will come in - but he is an important part in the scheme of things.

I have found some fabric in my stash that will be perfect for the fish - it was a furnishing sampler which had a swatch of 32 colours plus a huge piece of the pale blue which may end up as the background. Very early days yet - so I guess we will see... I can anticipate a lot of work ahead. But as the saying goes - a thousand mile journey begins with a single step...

Each time I make an entry to this thread I intend to print it off and put it in my diary as a constant record. And yes, it is the week before Christmas...