Ma Rainey: Domestic

Two weekends or so ago I dyed some fabric...or maybe I painted it? What is the correct term when one alters the color of material using Deka Silk paint without actually "painting" something, just letting paint and water soak into fabric?

Anyway, I "cleaned up" some of the blue paint using a vintage guest towel that just happened to be in a nearby pile. I liked it. In fact, I loved it. Instantly, the finished image came to mind....Ma Rainey, the Mother of the Blues!

The vintage guest towel was never finished. An area was carefully counted and finished for a withdrawn embroidery design. None was ever added. It looked like a "cage" or a sort of "prison"....like having been one of the best entertainers in the country trapped into a later life working as a domestic maid. I rarely do counted stitching but this piece needed it. I used one of the pictures I collected of Ma Rainey behind the withdrawn-work grid.

So, this is my first "new" piece for next summer's Blues Chapel exhibition!