INSPIRATIONS patchwork
Kenyanese Checkers
Tropical Rain
Liquid Gold
Heart of Africa
and the restructuring gave the composition new importance. Back on track, XI: Kenyanese Checkers presents a fusion of woven check, rigid and square, contrasted with freehand cut patchwork made from hand-painted and stamped silks, emphasized with black outlines and embellished with beadwork. This piece pokes fun at the political and economic relationship currently enjoyed by China in Kenya. XII and XIII got sidetracked. Number 14 is Heart of Africa, a piece that is now complete but for a label. Highly experimental, I used this piece to further develop the quilt-as-you-go method, this time shifting from a narrow, single sashing to a sashing so wide it is actually part of the patchwork. The Redefinitions series, by its nature, permits such wide sashing that magically blends into the rest of the work,
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and it permits easier quilting of smaller sections before finishing the quilting on the sashing only. I learned much from the making of this quilt, including how to close the sashing on the back with quilting rather than with hand stitching. Many of my methods are speed techniques, but I always strive not to sacrifice quality when applying them. Redefinitions is not a finished series by any means. I have indeed learned a great deal about better ways to handle my medium, and no doubt more new ideas will occur to me as the work progresses. This is the benefit of working in series, of latching onto a single or a set of ideas that we, as artists, push to the maximum. What I love about this series, in particular, is that there are no boundaries, no limitations on what I can do with these methods. I use straight seams or curves.
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I use any fabrics, with or without supporting materials. The colour palette goes a long way toward establishing character and impact of a piece, as do any selected embellishments carefully applied. The constructed linear elements add great accents and demand closer inspection. Using hand-painted and hand-stamped or stenciled materials makes the fabrics my own. Every day brings new challenges and a fresh consideration of how to accomplish that which I hope to achieve. Making Redefinitions art quilts makes me wonder why I ever designed and quilted in any other way! BC Visit denacrain.com for my personal blog, and quiltedonline.com for QuiltEd Online art quilt classes