Saturday, April 16, 2011

Workin', Workin', and Workin'

Although I didn't do any additional sewing, I did manage to assemble (they are pinned) most of the legs of the lioness who is on the right! I am currently working on the mane of the lion king. I loved the original picture because of the family nature of the scene. When I was in Africa (40 years ago now), I never saw the male lions in the family grouping. It was always a group of lionesses with their combined cubs. My daughter Lisa took about 200 shots of this lion family. There were several cubs and many of the pictures show the playful nature of the grouping. This shot just looked so human to me -- of course you can't see it all yet!! (But you will, I promise!) I keep hoping that I will achieve the right mix of realistic and abstract. Too abstract and it will look cartoonish and I just don't want to do it too realistic which is why I chose to do all straight line piecing and no curves. I figure if I err to the too abstract side, I can add some thread painting for more detail. Lots and lots of decisions. I don't seem to tire of this brown/green pallette though. Priscilla tried to completely block herself from being pictured with her leaf quilt but my camera was quicker!! If you double click, you can see the detail of the quilting. She is making awesome progress and it is now official -- she is a quilter not just a wearable artist! Marcia was busily assembling another of her Jet Trails series. I realized that it was the first time I have actually seen her process -- usually I see them much further done -- she works very improvisationally, a style which I find very difficult! Soon she will be hard at work with her enormous vegetable garden and beautiful flower beds that dot their acreage! Hopefully I will have the lions done by summer!

1 comment:

KathyB said...

I look forward to seeing the lions. I think this quilt will be fabulous! You obviously love a challenge. I do too. I'l be checking back in to see this. Please stop by and see what I'm creating with very small scraps of fabric. See fiberart by Kathy Bourgeois at kbartdesigns.com