A study in contrasts – “Angels of Darkness, Angels of Light”

Images and titles for my art quilts often combine in strange ways. This piece was the curious coincidence of finding some fabrics of angels that came in several “colorways” or fabrics that have the same print, just different main colors, and a magazine how-to article on making amazingly detailed butterflies out of seed beads. The fabrics had little stylized, almost paleolithic, images of block shaped angels, which I beaded around. My attention, however, was lavished on the butterfly angels. I adore butterflies, and have used them in a lot of my work. I found an old bracelet, whose bars, when cut apart, formed great bodies for the angels and almost moon faced buttons to be the faces. When you look at the detail photo below, you can see how complicated I made some of those angelic insects. Some of them have lighter colored wings, as the one on the right of the detail shot below (an Angel of Light). However, if you look to the left of that same detail shot, you can see an Angel of Darkness, with the same moon shaped button face. I used both images, dark and light, because for me, there are lessons to be learned in all aspects of our lives. I also used glass rondelles for the faces of some of the smaller butterfly appliques I beaded to make “little sister” angels.(see the purple images in the middle of the detail pic directly below.)

There were also a number of bronze colored, starburst metal stampings that I used thoroughout the surface embellishment. I’ve used metal stampings before, but these were rather large, about 2.5in or 6.5cm. While I often have to drill holes in metal stampings, these came pre-punched and were smooth in appearance. However, even though I sewed them on with six strands of embroidery floss, gravity has cut through the threads as they’ve rubbed against the metal while the quilt was hanging on a wall. I would suggest to anyone choosing to incorporate this form of metal embellishment to use either nylon sewing thread or fine fishing line to secure the forms and then cover over the nylon with the more decorative, colored embroidery floss.

In this detail shot, you can see some of the heavily beaded fan shapes that I incorporated more along the bottom of the quilt. I love fans and have a collection from all over the world. in “charm school” back when I was a teenager down South, I actually learned the proper ways to carry and hold a fan. (That’s a skill that I don’t get to use very much these days.) I used these forms to add an ethnic look to the overall feel of the piece. The long cream colored beads in the middle fan of this detail shot are actually made out of animal horns. There is also a horn buckle in the lower middle of this detail shot.

I like contrasts in my art work. Even in the title, I find the part “Angels of Darkness…” to be evocative. I find that most people don’t find anything useful in their dark sides, the dark aspects, the scary places we work hard to avoid. For me, however, it’s standing up and facing those fears is where I find a lot of my own personal strength, and now, I’ve created a visual landscape in which to do so.

Why not comment about your own experiences with dark and light and how you’ve overcome those challenges. I feel that we all grow when we share, so help us see another insight besides what I’ve written above.

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

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

One comment

  1. […] “Angels of Darkness, Angels of Light” , is the art quilt from which this detail shot is taken. I blogged about this art quilt earlier, so if you click on the above link, you can read more about the story behind it. Here in this blog, I’m focusing on the blue fans in the lower left and middle bottom. I used blue bugles in the outer semi-circles, and then scattered plastic blue crow beads nearby to carry the color out into the rest of the nearby surface. In Japanese landscaping, that would be called “borrowing the view”, where a large feature, such as a nearby mountain is framed by a circle cut into a fence, and then a much smaller version would be built in the garden to suggest a mountain. I use the same concept in spreading out colors and shapes in my art quilts. […]

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