Detail of Symbol of my Culture

Symbol of my Culture-

This isn't quite done, but I wanted to talk about the progress I've been making.

My first thought, when I was doing this quilt was to do one based on Bluegrass music. It seemed like it would fit well with, not only my family roots, which has to do with Mountain music, but also the area I live in now, the Missouri Ozarks. In thinking about what particular image to represent, I became more attracted to the behind the scenes view of a performance, or a solitary practice moment. So often, at outdoor festivals, you'll see performers, such as this, sitting alone or in small groups, playing for the joy of it. I think I captured the moment I hoped to share.

Technically, this is a painted image based on a photo I took. Along with the fabric paints, I used Prismacolor pencils to add depth to the image. Finally, I quilted it very tightly, almost like thread painting to add texture.

pencil practice-

This was one of a friend of my youngest daughter's. I guess my kids get tired of being handy models because my youngest refused to pose for a photo for me to draw. I'll have to catch her unaware sometime. In the meantime, here's one of her friends. I drew this on some more of Iva's paper, but this was a pale blue and, while the weight of the paper was similar to the gray, the texture was a bit more accepting of the pencil. Still working on getting the feel of drawing back.

Pencil practice-

I spent some time last week practicing my drawing skills and this was my first try. I was trying to remember the last time I tried to do a drawing and, the best I could remember, it's been 9 years. So, I'm definitely rusty. When I helped my friend, Iva, pack up to move, I ended up bring home some paper that looked to be some sort of samples from a print shop. They looked fairly good for drawing to me. A bit heavier than pastel paper and with more texture, but were a nice shade of gray I enjoy doing portraits on. Turned out, the texture was a bit too rough and didn't want to accept the pencil very much at all. So, maybe not the best choice after all.

One thing I struggle with is accepting that this drawing won't be fabulous, simply because I've not used these skills for too long. In my logical mind, I know I should realize that practice makes perfect and that my practices along the way should be accepted for just that- practice. But, there's a part of me that doesn't want to worry about practice, everything I do should be fabulous!