The Visionary Art Quilt,”Medicine Area”, Part Three

Detail of the Visionary Art Quilt - "Medicine Area"Nancy Smeltzer, MFA

The photos on this page were taken on the third day of embellishing this small art quilt with buttons and beads. Since the piece is only 16″ x 20″, (41.5 cm x 51 cm), the area quickly fills up and I have to restrain myself not to cover up every square piece of surface area. Some of the mirrored squares that I wrote about in previous postings are at the tips of the red arrows I added just for this photo to point out the mirrors. In the vision where I was shown this image, this cave of healing has the walls of it lined with shining crystals, so these mirrors are meant to suggest that reflective quality. The brass metal feather that I mentioned in the last posting as being used to represent one of my spirit guides can be seen much better in this photo in the middle of this picture. As the feather only had an attachment circle at each end of its length, it flopped around too much when I picked up whole quilt. I rarely use glue to secure anything on to my art quilts, as I feel that it could leach out over the years. However, since this metal feather is so heavy, besides sewing it down at the top and the bottom, I used E-6000 glue on the back of the feather. I hate the smell of it, but usually by the time a piece has dried over night, the smell has dissipated.

Detail of visionary art quilt - "Medicine Area"I was worried about how to handle all if that mustard colored background fabric around the square portal, seen here in the upper right, so I sewed on lots of small, yellow buttons with purple embroidery floss. I love the luxury of having lots of the same embellishment material, so the halo of yellow buttons trails off into other parts of the composition. I wanted to suggest the “pow” of energy radiating outwards that would be released as someone enters the square portal and comes into this cave “garden”. (The commands or mantras to help you to access the energy of the piece are found on the Meditation Gardens page – scroll down past the pictures to find them and the directions on how to use them.)

At this point, showing more pictures of this art quilt before it’s finished, would be like showing the building of a new house after the inside has been framed and the walls are up. There’s not so much to see until the piece is totally completed, as the work now will be slow and subtle. I call it the “Time of the Long Sew”, because at this point, there will be hours and hours of stitching and not so much obvious work to show for it. I’ll post the blog with the finished piece when it’s all done, so check back to see how this cave “garden” looks when it’s completed.

What do you find to be the most time consuming parts in the construction of your own art work? Do you feel that those times are worth it, or merely time draining?

Why not leave a comment as to your thoughts on this posting. Please take a minute, fill out the form below or by clicking on the “comments/no comments link” at the top of the posting, and then share your ideas with the rest of us. We all grow when we share our thoughts and impressions, so why not join our growing community of those who appreciate art quilts and textile arts. We’d love to hear from you!… and PLEASE tell like minded souls about this blog! The more readers and contributors, the more I write because encouragement helps the words flow!

You can see more of my art work on my web site at www.fiberfantasies.com (be patient as it loads; it’s worth it), my healing work at www.transitionportals.com and can find me on Google + , Facebook (for Transition Portals) Facebook (for Fiber Fantasies),  and Twitter.

To find out how to buy my art work, please check out “How to Buy my Art Work” in the “Pages” section to the right of this blog.

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