Guardian Angels

In keeping with my new old fascination with patterns, I bought a bunch of books on patterns at the estate sale of an artist who recently passed away.  She was a fiber/quilt artist and had dozens of books on patterns.  I felt like I hit the jackpot!  The ones which called to me most strongly, for some reason, were African patterns:  Nigerian, Ethiopian, and more generalized African.  When I got home from the sale, I went out into the studio where I began to browse through the books and copy out patterns which appealed to me the most.   I learned that the Ethiopian patterns were from scrolls which were made for people to help heal them.  Many of the images were demons, most seemed to be angels.  They were drawn on scrolls along with text and were carried on the person all the time or kept in their homes.  One, for example, was for a pregnant woman and was meant to protect her and her child. 

 

I decided to incorporate one of the patterns of Guardian Angels into the painting I was just beginning.  I put it into the background as if it were wallpaper.  I was also thinking that the woman I was painting has the feel of an angel as well - a strongly protective one - so I chose to call the piece Guardian Angels. 

Here's the finished version: