Quilt National Entry

Doors to the Past

This was my entry into Quilt National this year.  This was the first year I felt that I had a piece that might be considered for this prestigious show.

Quilt National is held every other year at the Dairy Barn in Athens, OH.   Many say that this is the mother of all fiber art shows.

You really have to plan and commit yourself and the piece of art that you are making to enter in QN.  One of the foremost rules in their entry form is that the art can not be posted on your blog/internet etc.  Nor can it have been entered into any other show or seen within a 100 mile radius of your home before entering into QN.  This takes quite a commitment.  Most artist who chose to enter this exhibit feels that this is worthwhile. 

I took the plunge this year and decided that I might have a small chance.  I didn't!  There were over 800 entries and only 86 were juried into the show.  Of course, I'm disappointed but not surprised.  I'm glad I entered and I will most likely enter again.  After all nothing ventured nothing gained.

 Now that I have that out of the way I want to tell you how I came up with the above design and how Doors to the Past evolved.

The photo show here was taken in New Mexico.  I can't really remember where but the thing that caught my attention was how the doors/arches opened one after the other.  I also loved the light that came through after the second doorway.

I've been doing a lot of merging photos in PSE and decided to play with this photo as my background.

 I also take lots of shadow photos of myself and my husband when we are out hiking or site seeing.  This photo was taken in a creek in the Smoky Mountains.  The stones are moss covered and the sky is reflected in the water.

 This was the final image.  As you can see my shadow disappeared with the exception of the light at the upper part of the archway.  Things started feeling a little eerie here.

As I looked at the image I began seeing images.  The design that emerged at the lower left looked to me as if it might be half of the Comedy Mask.  Because of this I decided to mirror image the design./

 This was the image that emerged after the mirror imaging.  This has turned into a much longer post than I had planned so I am stopping at this point and will elaborate on this more later this week.