Inspiration: the work of Indian artist S.H.Raza and Indian hand embroidery.

Selecting an artist from India was daunting at first. So many involved portraits, forests and palaces. Nothing appealed to me, or seemed possible for me to represent in hand stitching. Then I discovered the work of SH Raza. He painted geometric designs inspired by aspects of Indian / Hindu philosophy. He particularly liked the circle, or dot, called a bindu which to Hindus represents the centre of the universe and the point of creation of all things. other shapes that Mr Raza used a lot are upright and inverted triangles, representing the energies of male and female.

I selected a geometric pattern – a photo of a wall tile in an Indian palace near Jaipur – drew it out on fabric the stitched lots of colour into it. During my tours in India I have been able to study several different styles of hand embroidery practised by experts, both men and women. I have learned a lot from these skilled people and have used some of their techniques in this piece.

This piece, like the others in the series, has hand dyed cotton background fabric, embroidery in cotton, lines of gold paint and minimal, invisible quilting. The quilt in bound in blue.

Detail views:

Original artwork: