My Exhibit at The Arts Company

When Warren Carpenter, owner of The Arts Company asked me to do this show I almost said no. One of the reason was that I show my work in this area quit a lot and I didn't feel I could get enough new pieces ready. I had a couple of very productive weeks in the studio and email Warren that I thought I could get a show together.

I finished the last piece on Monday afternoon before hanging the show on Tuesday. When I discussed this show with Warren I told him that I had made two successful quilts that originated from a drawing that I had made in school almost 25 years ago. While I was thinking about the drawing I remembered that I had also made a print of the same image in a printmaking class. That lead me to consider hanging both with the two quilts that were inspired by the drawing. Warren is so easy to work with and he totally agreed that we should hang them.

When I decided to use this pattern I was ready to move on a little from my large brightly colored floras, in other words to break out of my box. "A Touch of Red" resulted in my breaking out. I decided to go from lots of color to only black and white. However, after the quilt was finished I just had to add a touch of red. I've never done any bead work but felt that beads would be a great additions to this piece. It was judged into Houston, Paducah and the members show at Visions 2008. Just recently both this quilt and "Peacockiness" were juried in the book by Lark Publishing Co, "500 Art Quilts". This book is due out in the Spring.

After I finished this quilt I didn't feel that I was through with this image so "Peacockiness" was born. Again I reverted back to my brightly colored fabrics to create the image. I always create my flower and then find a great backing fabric for the piece. I believe that the backing can and does make or break a piece. I couldn't find a piece large enough so I created the back out of several beautiful hand-dyed fabrics purchased from my friend, Marjan Kluepfel. I cut these pieces on the curve and then pieced them together to create the background. I asked my friend Diana Pickens, a wonderful machine quilter, if she would consider collaborating with me on this pieces. She accepted the challenge and it was also juried into Paducah and Houston

Hope you enjoy!