I walk along the seashore's edge almost everyday and what I see is different on every walk. Each glance presents an abstract picture filled with varying degrees of interest. The beach changes from very rocky to smooth and sandy, depending on the tide, weather and season. The evidence of life is always present in both beautiful and disturbing ways. There is such a vast variety of objects, shapes, forms and colors and I felt that would give every player a wide open opportunity to express their memories of sights along the seashore. I made sure the title included "upon close inspection", hoping that it would connect to the idea of how interesting nature is when we take time to slow down and examine the details.
My Square
As the tide is receding there are little rivulets of water running out and they leave beautiful patterns on the sand. My beginning sketch started with just patterns in the sand. I transferred the pattern to silk organza with a gray permanent marker. Laid the silk organza down over the hand painted cotton fabric and lightly tacked it down with thread around the edges. My starting point was the area you see in the darker turquoise. Why? Just because it was the most interesting shape and that was exciting. The stitching colors weren't planned ahead, the composition lead me to the colors and paths that my machine needle followed.
I have to confess that I had some of the threads used in this square in my studio for years and never used them until this project. I bought them from Ellen Ann Eddy after hearing her lecture. Tried using them once with disastrous results. I took a workshop with Ann Fahl and she introduced me to the Bottom Line thread by Superior threads and then I was able to sew with the wonderful Madeira threads purchased from Ellen Ann Eddy. So it took two teachers to get me stitching.After the stitching was completed I looked through my beads and found some that worked with my thread colors. Added one shell, some pseudo pearls and some hand embroidery.If you want to see my work on other players projects then go over to my blog, http://inpspiredbyjoy.blogspot.com/
3 comments:
A great post!!! Lovely to read the "story" and see how everyone interpreted it. Perhaps you could develop a series based on phrases like this??
Arlee, thank you for your support and for encouraging me. I like the idea of a series and the subject matter is huge!
Thank you, Arlee.
I love this piece inspired by the tides. I'm working on my first art quilt ever (postcard size) and it has a sea theme. I'm loving trying to capture the tiny bubbles, variations in color, shifting sand, etc. with thread and fabrics.
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