Memories of "The Night Parade of 100 Demons" from last month, have now moved to a machine embroidered panel made in the 1990’s (see above). Entitled "Painting the eye of a dragon”, it’s a wall-panel (appx. 46” x 22” / 117cm x 56cm) that began life as a sample demonstration for tie-dyeing within a “colour workshop”. A piece of cream Habotai silk was randomly dyed using several tins of Dylon cold water powder dye & when dried & pressed, the resulting piece of fabric displayed a wonderful imaginary skyline. At the subsequent workshop using fabric paint, a decision to overpaint small sections with metallic silk paints, highlighted certain aspects of the “clouds” visualised & a very storm-like sky appeared. Like many things worked on in the past (& at a particular point in time), the piece often develops “a life of its own” where all that is necessary for me, is to just complete what’s seen "in my mind's eye"! It was at this ‘clouds stage’ of imagination where the fabric transposed itself into a panel with a visual story: two mythical beings opposing one another within a dark & stormy skyline. With the addition of machine embroidery, it would be seen as a ‘fight’ between two dragon-like creatures ... battling somewhere between an imaginary “heaven & earth” … fighting between right & wrong … good & evil.
When finished, it symbolised a personal view of life ... how things change ... how lives alter ... how without positive & negative energies, we all battle on a daily basis to keep things "on an even keel". Remaining unnamed for several months, one day while reading an article about Chinese artwork on the Internet (& when modems were connected to a phone line!), I read this:
In Southern Liang Dynasty (502–557 C.E.) lived a painter named Zhang Sengyao who was known for his incredible lifelike paintings &who was especially adept at painting dragons. Many people, from emperors to Buddhist priests, hired him to decorate their residences, temples, and murals with his artwork. One day, as the painter was finishing up a mural of four dragons, people walking by noticed that he left the eyes of the dragons unpainted. “How come you are leaving the eyes blank?” the people asked. The painter replied that if he drew the eyes of the dragons in, the dragons would fly away into the sky. The people were incredulous and urged the painter to finish his mural, so the painter sighed and drew in the eyes of two of the four dragons. As soon as he finished with the eyes of the second dragon, the clouds in the sky darkened and the winds began gusting. Lightning streaked across the sky and at the clap of thunder that followed, the people saw the two dragons separate themselves from the mural, and fly up into the sky.
Reading that description, it exactly captured my embroidered panel & hence it was duly named “Painting Eyes in a Dragon”. The significance now was that it posed a QUESTION (one of many I’m sure) … could I use this general imagery in a way that represented “progressing emotions”?
