Flavoured with a pinch of Picasso

A couple of weeks ago I visited the Picasso exhibition at Tate Britain. I've always found Picasso's work intriguing, especially his portraits. I don't claim to fully understand where he's coming from, but as I say, there is something about his work that attracts me. Something about strength of line and colour seems to excite me, so maybe it's that aspect of his work that I find inspiring. This is not my JQ for next month, but it is something similar. I have ended up with two pieces, and had to make a choice, so I've decided to show this one on my blog first. It has been stitched on Khadi paper, which I painted first with silk paint. After heat fixing the colour, I soaked it in water, and scrundhed it up a few times to soften it. When I ironed it again, it seemed to give it a leathery quality which I really like. The black lines are black knitting wool couched down with a free motion zig zag stitch, and the remainder of the surface has been heavily quilted, again with free motion stitch. I've included a close-up photo to hopefully show this quilting. Oh! and the inspiration for this portrait is my beautiful daughter, I wonder what she will think of it!