One
(among many things this spring and summer!) of the delays on this piece was that I was not quite happy with the selection of browns I had to choose from. I wanted to cut a silhouette of a running Abebe Bikila to place on the larger green piece. I thought brown would help to reference the "
1st African Gold Medal winner" part of things.
Lighter brown/tan would be more like the natural skin of an Ethiopian.* And was almost but not quite the colour of the lion. But it was too pale and insignificant against the bright colours of the rest of the piece. Very dark brown was not good either. So, the option was a slightly reddish brown. I hadn't much of it, but I thought I could manage to cut the figure from it.
When I was at the Festival of Quilts, I saw that Doughty's had a wide range of solid colours for good prices. It wasn't just about green - which I also was looking for - or brown, but
which green or brown! And then a reddish brown kept catching my eye.
AND...
Wow. just right.
Okay, not very obviously reddish here.
But, it is more of a darker shade of the brown of the lion. And, more crucially, if you look close in the pattern of the background, you can see it is just the right colour of brown as in the background.
The selection of browns.
Two dark browns, the tan brown, the first reddish brown and then on the right, the just right brown!
So, the running man was duly cut from fused fabric using my freezer paper template.
And here is the finished top.
Now this will go on hold to finish the sandwich and quilting later in the autumn. (Because the Stretching Art Exhibition will be at a different show in the spring.)
I am thinking that when it is done with the exhibition, I might give it to my friend who works in Ethiopia. She can hang it in the school to urge on future Ethiopian long distance runners! Which is one of the reasons why this particular event in 1960 stood out for me. Already, one of the blind girls at the children's village has been scouted for a runner in the Ethiopian Paralympics and Ethiopian Athletics have begun training her!
Basically, I could finish this piece now, but I need to get on with the next project that has been pushed back. In theory, it should go quickly because it is a technique I use a lot, but you never know till you get started.
Unfortunately, I can't show it for a quite a long time yet. If it works and fits the plan, it may be in a book!
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*Did you know there is a creation fable in some parts of Ethiopia to explain their skin colour? Or so I read in a National Geographic Magazine some time ago. It is said that when God made people, the first batch came out not done enough, so He threw them to the North. The second batch was done too much and He threw them to the South. The third batch was just right and they became Ethiopians!
