Head

The head is really hard work. I've mostly finished the neck now, and the bits I haven't filled in I know what I need to do. There is a little more to do on one front leg but really the head is slowing me down a lot. This is really where I wish I could draw and colour things. Well this counts as a crash course. I think an observer would think I hadn't done much today as I have spent a lot of time with the machine stopped just staring into space or at the quilt. I have however been very busy thinking.

My tattooist spent some time trying to teach me about art and how to draw. I didn't think much sank in but hopefully he got enough through to make all the difference. I think the main lesson that I've been using is essence of thing. He said all you needed to do was understand the essence of the thing and put that down on paper or n this case fabric. So when I get stuck I think about what is actually going on and what I need to show. I've spent a lot of time today thinking about nostrils and lips. How they work, how they fit together and what details you need to show to make them read as what they are supposed to be. I still haven't quite got the inside of the nostril but I know what it looks and feels like so hopefully the colours will come good soon.

I've also been asking why a lot. I know this dragon is part cat, part horse and part dinosaur, so how do the back spines and in between bits work? If there is skin between the spines it must be attached to something, several somethings. It must grow from the back of the dragon and it is supported on the spines so they much also be covered in skin/scales. These sort of questions go on and on and on, but they do tell me exactly how the thing works and what it's essence is. It may well look like staring onto space to others :)

I am going to try really hard to get an early night now. My back aches, a combination of concentrating too hard and helping to pick up a very heavy man I think, but apart from that I have an early start tomorrow to get to Warwickshire Quilters New Year lunch. I suspect  by the time I've done the talk I will have some ideas about nostrils and be desperate to get home and back to work.