Saturday, October 20, 2007

New Yellowstone Piece

After a day at Marcia's on Thursday, I finally got really started on the second of the Yellowstone pieces.




The first one was started in the class I took this summer and I really like it but made choices based upon the fabric I bought with me plus a little I purchased at the vendors. This time I decided to go bigger and more detailed and use more variety in the fabrics.



I began the same way by drawing a cartoon from the same picture I took at Angel Terrace at Yellowstone.


It follows along on a theme I seemed to have developed which is trying to bring beauty to things that are inherently not considered attractive which includes the forest fire, rusted truck. I took lots of pictures of dead trees on this trip and I think many will find their way into pieces in the near future! The fact that I live in a heavily wooded development probably is a significant influence here.

My father was a naturalist before it was stylish and taught ecology back in the 30's and 40's. As a child, one of the super big treats was to accompany my father on his Saturday "walks" which were down the railroad tracks and into the undeveloped areas near where we lived. He would find cocoons, tadpoles and I grew up with beautiful butterflies hatching and watching tadpoles turn into frogs in our back room. We grew most of our own fruits and vegetables despite living in a heavily developed suburb of Philadelphia. The town permitted my father to farm a 1/2 acre plot next the railroad tracks that remained undeveloped until I went into college when it finally became parkland. I think it was in the genes as his family had farms and came from English farming stock although it was two generations away from him.

Anyway, below is the current status of my newest Yellowstone piece.







I have also included a shot of my very favorite piece I have purchased from Priscilla Kibbee. It is a hand embroidered piece on hand woven fabric from Guatemala. I can't help myself when Priscilla brings back all these wonderful textiles and trims from all over the world.
See her blog at www.priscillakibbee.blogspot.com. She has fascinating pictures from her many travels around the world. I'll post some molas I have purchased from her as well at a later time. She actually bought them from the Kuni Indians off the coast of Equador in her last trip -- amazing hand work.

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