"Doors to the Past" to be at the Brush Gallery, Lowell MA

Doors to the Past 
34" X 39"


 I recently recieved an email from The Brush Gallery in Lowell, Ma. telling me that this piece had been accepted in their exhibit Tangled up in Blue.

This piece was originally made as an entry to Quilt National.  It was not accepted.  When you enter Quilt National your new piece has to remain off the internet.  No photos posted any where.  Because of that I did not post my normal work-in-grogress.  I'm thinking that I may have posted some of the information after it was rejected but decided that I would show you the process along with my thinking on the piece.

 This is one of the two photographs that I used to create this image in PhotoShop Elements.  I took this photo in TX.  I loved the way you looked into the archway and saw multiple doors.  Because the last door was dark it appered to me as if it could go to infinity.  I also liked the light that seemed to be coming into the second hallway from the right.

I have this thing about photographing my husband and my shadow especially when we are traveling.  I have bunchs of shadow photos and whithout much effort I can tell you exactially where those shadows were taken.

This one was on a trip coming back from taking a class at Arrowmont in Gattlinburgh, TN.  We had stopped at a pull off to take a little walk in the woods.  There was a wooden bridge that crossed a small creek.  We stopped on the bridge to look in the water and I took this photo.  Notice the colors in the upper left corner, orange, green, pink and blue.  Also notice the blue in our shadow.  I decided that I would like to merge or blend these two photos together to see what the image would look like.

 This was the image that resulted.  You can see that my shadow disappeared, with the exception of the light spot at the top of the arch.  Notice where the colors come in on the right along with the blue in the water.  You can also see in the bottom left corner that the reflection of the bridge shows up.  When I first viewed this merged image I saw something in the bottom left that resembed half of a comedy mask.  That lead me to mirror image the piece.

Resulting with this image.  I loved the secondary images that were created in the center.  While I pursued the idea of a comedy mask, the piece soon took on another meaning for me.

I mentioned early the doors to infinity.  I now saw almost a ghost like presence coming from the last door.  (That would be me, or at least my shadow that mysteriously disappeared).  My thoughts now ran in the direction of how many people have passed through these doors?

 Leading me to make an image and move it around in PSE until I liked the position.  (I'm bound and determinded to get my shadow back in this piece somewhere)

After placing the ghost in different places I decided on the one that is seen at the beginning of the post.  I printed my shadow image on silk fabic and with Misty Fuse adhered to the back I fused them in place.

If you look at this image and go back to the top photo you will notice that these three images are much brighter than on the finished piece.  I wanted them to appear more ghostly so I went into my watercolor pencils and blended some color through them as well as on the edges.  I wanted the outline of the doorway to actually show through the body on the left side.
At this point I am calling it finished .  The next decision is how to quilt, this is always the hardest part for me.

I eventually decided to make brick like quilting on the floor with lines following the doorways.  In the light of the last door I quilted the shape of the shadow/ghost.

I never plan my work.  I usually start with an idea but it almost never ends up being what I had in mind in the beginning.  Sometimes working this way is good and sometimes I get myself in a bind that I could have worked out if I had done a little more planning.  But, hey that's how I work.

I was really excited that The Brush wanted this piece.  I always knew that entering Quilt National was a long shot but you don't know until you try.  I'm glad that someone thought it gallery worthy.

This post is  linked to www.ninamariesayre.blogspot.com