The series continues – “Circles of Black, Circles of White 3”

Art quilt - "Circles of Black, Circles of White 3" embellished with buttons and beads,This piece, “Circles of Black, Circles of White 3” ( 23”W x 28.75”T or 58.5 cm x 73 cm) is one of the prettiest art quilts that I’ve done. While I love all of my “children”, this piece just flowed through me and was easily constructed. While there are a diverse assortment of materials sewn onto its surface, to my eye at least, they balance out. When I’m creating a piece, I “hum” the various motifs and embellishments into place to a 4/4 beat. Each element is placed one piece at a time, as if that were the only one that was going to be included on the surface. After that piece is in place, I make another decision, and then another. So what you see in any of my pieces is the result of thousands of individual decisions with regard as to where something will end up and how it relates to what is already there. Most of these decisions are unconscious when I’m in what I call the “Creative Free Flow”. That State of Being is where I’m one and the same with whatever creative endeavor I’m working on, whether it’s my art work, or garden compositions, and time, in effect stands still as I commune with what is in front of me.

Detail of art quilt "Circles of Black, Circles of White 3" embellished with buttons and beads This detail shot has a lot of the elements that I frequently use. There is a monarch butterfly, commercial iron-on applique that is easily obtainable in many craft stores. To its left, is a lavender grey flower that is a recycled piece of costume jewelry. I love using old jewelry, which if it has a pin back, I’ll pin it through all 3 layers of the quilt, and then secure the end posts of that backing with lots of stitches so that the brooch won’t fall off. There are two of my favorite glass buttons visible, a shiny blue one near the top right, and an unusual one in the lower right. The back of the button is painted an opaque orange which is refracted through the clear glass layers above it, and the rim is painted with and opaque purple color. There is a circle of small blue safety pins in the lower right that have been threaded with large yellow beads and sewn into place. No detail is too small to consider, as the semi-circle of small orange buttons at the ends of the black and white bars that take up most of the bottom right of this photo, have been sewn on with aqua embroidery floss to pick up the same color in other nearby elements, such as beads and buttons.

Detail of art quilt "Circles of Black, Circles of White 3" embellished with buttons and beadsThis detail photo was taken further back from the surface of the piece than the previous photo so you can see how more of the elements fit together. In the very center, is my signature hummingbird button that I include in all of my pieces. At the bottom middle is a semi-circle of those white shell circles, that I frequently use, here shown in their natural color. (There are many available in the craft stores that have been dyed various colors.) These were secured down with magenta embroidery floss to pick up some other similarly colored elements. I find that when I want to make a big impact with thread, there’s nothing like the variety of colors, the quality, and the availability of DMC embroidery floss. The 6 strands of thread, are sometimes difficult to thread into a large enough needle that also has a sharp point to pierce all 3 layers of the quilt. However, DMC threads are not intertwined, which allows them to lay flat when stitched down and thus, show up better.

Each of the pieces in this series, while having the black and white striped fabric circles in common, have their own distinct quality. Just as children in the same family have different personalities, so do each of the pieces in this series. Hopefully, one day, they’ll all be exhibited in the same show, which would be interesting to see how one led to the next, what new changes were made, and how they work as a whole body of artwork. I think that the Monet’s gallery at Giverny where his waterlily series is housed would be a great place to showcase these, but then I like to think big.

 Have you done a series and what did you learn from the experience?

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You can see more of my art work on my web site at www.fiberfantasies.com

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