Inspired by the past
I looked at the ritual of scarification and the masks which were worn during those ceremonies and I was able to extract quite a lot of information and ideas. So, this week after flicking through my old sketch book I revisited this topic and have been playing around with a design from a sketch of an Awan mask.
The design which I am going to use is developed from the mask above with some of the areas and shapes repeated, as you can see from the design the strong outlines and simple shapes lend themselves well to block printing so, I have made a block
and I will be printing this design onto space dyed cotton, I have used oil sticks to break up the background before I put the print onto it. My only concern at present is that the fabric which I have chosen is a very fine cotton and I will probably have to bond it onto another firmer fabric to get the best results but I am feeling hopeful that it will develop into an interesting project. I have not abandoned the Masai girl in green, I will work on them both.