Drawn by the sound of crow calls I watched the birds take there flight in the early dawn this morning. They were commuting against a strong gusting wind as they departed from Oak-wood Cemetery were they roost in the winter, to each of their respective hunting grounds. The flight is powerfully beautiful in its grace of movement as it was contrasted against a silver gray sky that was dotted with little blown snow flakes today. Living with the daily routine of these creatures has made me pay attention to their existence and has enriched my life. I have made several quilts with crows as the stars. Their simple dark forms show up so very well against so many surfaces that I always find it to be an enjoyable task to build a work around them. Sense they are present so much around were I live I have many opportunities to watch them in their daily routines. At the moment with the fresh snow they stand out quite sharply as they dance around the ground in there search for food. I like too how they cluster together in the evenings as they gather for the night. All heads facing the wind and raucously shouting to one another filling first one tree top then another. Then taking flight at the same time without a seeming signal as they then move a bit closer as a cluster toward the final roosting place. All the time the numbers increase as they move toward a movable base and the sound becomes louder and louder as more birds stream back. I have tried to walk to the center of were they gather for there night roosting- I have never been successful. But that is the fascination of it for me.
Progress Report:
DMC Challenge Sphere System-
This challenge started on my is visit to Marty in Oct. I spent a lot of time this week working on the DMC project.
This was one attempt with two partial copies of were I thought I was going. I experiment by pinning things up and this is an example of that process. As it turned out I hated the layered X- cut fabric on top. I like the texture- and the idea – but it is not the place to use this idea.
So what I ended up with is this:
The irregular edges are proving to be a challenge, but I think I will work it out.
Machine Drawing
I had originally though that this quilt would be done as machine drawing of Golden Rod. But the silk thread was too heavy for the machine and kept creating a mess on the back of the quilt so I took it all out. I could not look at or deal with the work for several mouths. Returning to it, I found I really like the fabric lay out, so I looked for a new subject matter. I came across this card of Chamomile and used it as my inspiration instead.
I have only completed one of the plants in this photo. I have sense put in two more- one on each side of this one. the additional quilting adds to the final effect quilt nicely. I am in the process of adding the facings to this work and I am sure I will complete it this week.
Twinkling Tracings
I have continued to work on the commission too. It now has a title and is called Twinkling Tracings. This is the first panel in the series. It is currently being pressed flat under my big cutting matt with half of the books from my shelves resting on top. The two other panels will get the same treatment and then I will be done with the studio part of the job.
ISIS Quilt
This is the Isis quilt all finished. It came out quite quickly for me . I think this will be the last of the Egyptian quilts for a while. I do not think I even would have done this last one if I had not been reviewing my goddess series and wondering how I could go forward with that idea. The question remains what will be the next goddess quilt?
Fractured- paper quilt and Fragments
We all have times when what we thought would work is a failure. Well such is the case with this piece. I started out making a quit that would feature a three dimensional tunnel shaped addition. The back got created and the tunnel got created- but they did not work together at all.
So I created a cracked paper quilt to put the tunnel on. They did not work together either……. So I played with the paper quilt . cut some triangular wholes- added some paint and gold ribbon. Fractured was born and I like it all on its own. OK- so this exploration has lead to one more project.
I took the fabric quilt back that I had originally made for the tunnel and applied the flattened beads I had created with play dough to its surface. The beads were made as a play project with my grand son a few weeks ago. I had stamped them with an Egyptian stamp and though they might be used on one of the first Egypt quilts. But they did not work there. Too much of a color contrast for those works.
This detail shows a close up of one of the beads. The surface was brushed with a white paint to high light the presses images.
I still do not have a home for the tunnel- but it may be like the beads, something that just has to shift around in the studio for a while before it finds a home. I will be OK with it if that never happens because I know it was an experiment and there are bound to me miss fires when one is playing that way.
I have had a good creative start to the new year and I hope I can continue to work successfully solving the problems as they come my way.
Keep Creating
