More Mandalas

The quilting is now finished on the four hand painted mandalas I posted about earlier. I'm quite pleased.

This one and the other blue/grey one will likely become a formal piece with two components.  So I have quilted both of them in quite similar patterns, using a twisted thread that reads as almost a metallic "gunmetal", but I have no idea where it came from.  Perhaps Marathon threads?

This one have been quilted with  variegated yellow/orange Fantasico from Superior Threads.  The working title for this is "Here Comes the Sun".  Titles are difficult for me.  I have a piece in a gallery show right now, that has the title "Shattered Dreams".  An acquaintance, whose opinion I trust, saw it and remarked on how joyful the piece was.  Once he said that, I could see the joy in it.  Guess I'm going to have to change the title.

I showed you the quilting on this one previously, but I've now got a good start on the beading, using Miyuki #10 crystal beads.

I plan to link this with The Needle and Thread Network

Future Perspective

Assuming that no news is good news, I have decided to post some photos of the piece Future Perspective, which I've made for the November show that has a theme of Prairie Perspective.

First is the whole view.  (Please ignore the strange background-I did the best I could)The piece is 36" by  24".  The statement to accompany it is that from the mountains and deserts of Alberta to the Canadian Shield in Eastern Manitoba, we need to look to the North, the "Land of the Midnight Sun" for future growth and prosperity.  All of the fabrics, except the dark red of the sun, are my own hand dyes.  

While it may look quite plain in an overall view, most of the detail and colour comes from the free motion, contour quilting, that covers the whole thing, with lines less than 1/8" apart. this was done with variegated thread, mainly Superior King Tut or Fantasico, but there are a couple of Sulky Blendables, that provided the colour I wanted. I tend to want to add white center line to the highway, but the proportions are just too bizarre, if I do.

I plan to link this with The Needle and Thread Network.

New work

Over the last couple of weeks, I've finished a new larger hanging, intending to enter it in my fibre art group's November show at a local gallery.  Knowing that it might be shown, I've not posted any pictures of it.  By Thursday I'll know if new constraints on entries will result in it being disqualified.  To have new constraints imposed at this late date has left me PO'd, to say the least.  I'll hold off posting anything until the matter is clarified, at a meeting scheduled for Wednesday evening.

In the meantime, I've painted four more mandala images over bas relief sculptures.  I got the first one FMQ'd today, ready for beading. This is the largest of the 4 pieces, being just over 12" in diameter.  The colours are paler than most of my mandalas, but a pretty good representation of the  misty, moody dawn light.  I have opted to do the FMQ'g  with clear mono-poly thread to maintain that atmosphere. Here is a full view and close up, of both front and back, as I think the quilting shows up so much better on the back.

I plan to link this with The Needle and Thread network