art quilt, multi tones – “The Lightness of Being”

Description

This is a whole cloth quilt made in the 18th century tradition of taking one beautiful piece of cloth then embellishing with with handwork and quilt-stitching it to a backing.  The difference here is that I created the contemporary cloth myself by painting it.

The technique I used to paint it was a Jackson-Pollock-esque method.  I laid my very large 8′ x 4′ paint board on the floor, wet some white broad cloth and smoothed it onto the surface.  Using my custom-blended water color textile paint I began making drops along the edges.  I let this dry for a hour or so until the paint had sufficiently blurred then I add more drops which then only slightly blurred.  When the fabric was completely dried I then added more drops that stayed as they were making slight splash marks.  When the paint was dry it was heat set than washed.

I added trapunto appliqué in white through the center to give the quilt some depth then finished with machine quilting on my older model traditional Bernina sewing machine.

This comes with a sleeve and an acid-free hanging insert to easily hang on any wall with two nails.

If you would like to see this quilt in person please contact me for a studio visit.