sometimes it takes time for ideas to meet up and mean something. i have always liked the backs of things. i have a category for them but i especially remember this. and i see so many of us turn the stitching over and marvel at the beauty generated by the other side of process, the unintentional side, the less manicured side, the side that contains the hidden paths from here to there, the side that eventually gets covered and forgotten. a secret map of where we have been. a peek at the inner workings of a creative thought. a clue to structure and intent. maybe even a place to hide things... and therefore a big part of the real story.
i am revisiting this idea with new eyes. the front was interesting, and the back caught my interest as a surface, but creating a front and then working the stitchery from the back and then turning it over so the finished piece is both front and back, and then to keep doing that....what if (?) that might be a way to combine the two things. being in two places at one time. just like magic.
the embellishment as it appears on the once was and now again front was generated by simply overcasting the seams to tack them down on the used to be back. this is now like the path through something. i also like the discharge as a process of letting go of color and leaving the structure, the act of uncovering the nature of the cloth. i am rambling.... i will use this one as a small a study for my next big cloth. MAGIC.
