From Challenge to Experiment: The Making of River Memories
It began as guild challenge that turned into an experiment.
Challenge rules:
1) Shades of gray, plus one optional color
2) No larger than 18” x 24”
3) Have fun (and did I ever!)
Let me ask you something: Have you ever had am image pop into your head that you couldn’t get rid of? Maybe it’s a drawing of something, or a vision for one of your life goals? For me it was a memory of place and feeling.
When the guild president announced this “Shades of Gray” challenge, I was instantly inspired by memories of cool winter mornings spent on the boat with my family. I grew up near the Chesapeake Bay and boating is a huge part of my culture. I wanted to showcase the quiet ethereal beauty of the land and waters I grew up on in a way that most visitors to the area typically don’t see or experience. The kicker: I’d never made a landscape quilt before.
Challenge Accepted: Making a Mosaic Sky
The first challenge I had to overcome was designing the sky. Having no idea where to being, I had to do some research first…
…and wound being inspired by mosaic art to create the sky!
To create the perspective of the sky, I began by lightly sketching guidelines on the dark background. Then I cut and appliqued over 90 individual pieces to match the sketched lines and create the perspective over the horizon.
This section along took the better part of a month. It was super labor-intensive, but I found it to be very zen-like and greatly enjoyed the level of focus requited to complete this stage.
Finishing the Artwork
The next challenge I faced was to figure out how the heck I was going to create light reflecting off the water. Because this was a challenge quilt, I knew I was not going to have time to develop a full mosaic. I’d just spent a month on just the sky and still had a ton of work to do! So, how could I still capture the image I wanted, but save some time?
Eventually, I just decided to use as many solid pieces as possible to build the bank and river.
The first step was figuring out how to create the ripples in the water reflecting the light from the sky.
To do this, I first mirrored the horizon below the tree line. Four strips of light grey fabric were then laid on top of the mirrored horizon and lines to simulate the movement of the river were sketched directly onto the fabric.
An X-acto knife was used to cut the holes in the four gray topstrips. I also cut holes across the strips to create the illusion that the water overlay was one piece. You have to look closely and explicitly for the applique lines between the light gray strips to see that particular detail. To continue the perspective effect, I cut the smallest holes in the strip closest to the horizon and the largest holes in the strip furthest from the horizon.
River Memories was completed the day before the challenge deadline. No, I did not win the guild challenge, but received many wonderful compliments!
And eventually, River Memories won 1st place for the innovation category at the Virtual Quilt Show Fall 2020, sponsored by Gammill, Inc…Heyoo!
To create the illusion of a fog/snow bank, I layered the fabric strips on top of each other to help create a sense of depth and movement. Finally, I used the fabric remnants of the tree line to make the trees in the foreground adding to the illusion of perspective.
The Completed Work
River Memories was a challenging quilt that took nearly three months to complete. It pushed me creatively and I learned many new skills. I embraced many risks, got creative, and found a style I thoroughly enjoy making as an art quilter.
An important part of my art practice and philosophy is to constantly experiment. River Memories began as a fun challenge quilt, evolved into an experiment, and ended up pushing me into the realm of art quilting. It is an award-winning, innovative, and retrospective quilt that changed my quilting practice. And I cannot be more grateful for it!