A New Textile: "Transparent Triangle"

Transparent Triangle, hand dyed wool on linen, 13 x 12 in.

My titles tend to be straightforwardly descriptive, and this work, until I began writing this blog post, was titled Circle and Triangle on Gold. Then I began thinking about how awkward that was as a title, a little long, not tripping off the tongue, and realized that an important part of this piece is the translucency of the triangle as it sits on top of the circle and the background, so the title became Transparent Triangle, more mellifluous sounding. I mixed the colors of the triangle with a blue added to the cherry red and to the gold. When I was working on the drawing in preparation for this new piece, I started with a square format, but soon realized that the balance of shape and background called for more space at the bottom, so I added an inch. 

In this detail you can see the hooking patterns more clearly. The gold is hooked in an overall pattern, to have it feel like background to the shapes hooked in lines paralleling their outlines. The lines of the triangle overlap those of the circle to reinforce its illusion of transparency. 

When I finished hooking the piece, but before I bound the edges, I tacked it up on the wall above a print of a Tantric drawing. I was surprised at the feeling in the textile, more than I'd expected; there was something about the simple strong shapes that seemed elemental, so it inspired me to begin a second piece related to this one.