April: In the Beginning

"April: In the Beginning" '08          

Bead Embellished Quilt                    9" x 13"

 
"April: In the
Beginning"
by
Thom Atkins

Having worked primarily with the male nude image in my sculpture, I have wanted to introduce similar images into my bead-work. For April, I borrowed a small (2” x 3”) black and white photo and scanned it into Photoshop™. There I enlarged it and added color. I then scanned the fabric I wanted to use as jungle background and darkened it somewhat. I placed the nude male on this back ground and brought small pieces of greenery over parts of the body to place him in the jungle and printed it on fabric. To this base I added more bits of fabric, flowers and fruit, and held them in place with netting and beaded over the whole thing. Here again I let the vines trail over the edge of the picture, inviting the viewer into the jungle. This for me is Adam before Eve, alone.