The Reliquary

Deep in the forest of Trinidad and Tobago lives Mama Dlo. The abbreviation of her name from the French "mama de l'eau" translates to "mother of the water".  Hunters often boast of seeing a beautiful woman sitting on river rocks warmed by the sun, loudly slapping her mermaid like tail on the surface of the water just before she disappears in a flash of green-gold.
She and her sometimes lover Papa Bois, are believed to be the guardians of the forest. Together they keep watchful eyes for any one who would be purposeless and wasteful in the killing of animals, cutting down trees or polluting the rivers and streams.  If such a person is caught my Mama Dlo, he finds himself married to her both in this life and in the next.
This reliquary (a place for sacred object) was created to house the memory of the love child of Mama Dlo and one such indiscriminate hunter.

I painted the box with Golden's black gesso, attached a Loteria Card to the back wall and added black/grey roses.  The love child and the Memory key are from Tim Holtz.

Happy

All Hallows Eve

It's All About Texture

Sam Lord's Treasure Embroidery

Texture, it's what begs you to reach out and touch the surface.  One of the seven elements of design (line, shape, direction, size, color and value) when used with the other elements create interest, dimension, depth and enhances the visual story of the piece.  Fiber artists use threads of various thickness, a variety of stitches, found objects; while painters would use a build up of paint and/or make marks on the canvas.  Whatever the medium, texture is where it's at!

Sam Lord's Treasure Painting

Royal Poinciana 

Enjoy! 

National Quilt Museum

We took the back country roads after leaving St. Louis, MO driving through and around fields of sorghum, corn, alfalfa and soybean, going east, then south to Florida. Our destination - The National Quilt Museum in Paducah, KY. Founded in 1991 and by a special act of Congress, was awarded the designation "The National Quilt Museum of the United States".  It's the Mecca for quilters!  What an amazing place. It takes your breath away!  There were antique quilts, circa 1800s.  Quilts from the Chicago School of Fusing, (where admittance is determined by one's ability to find Chicago on the map) featuring quilt artists, 

Freida Anderson, Caryl Bryer Fallert, Denise Havlan, Jane Sassaman, Carol Taylor, Ricky Tims and so, so much more.  I have seen some of the quilts before, at the various shows, but upon seeing them again, I was just as fascinated as I was the first time I saw them. Judy Coates Perez' Primordial Sea, is one such quilt.
It took us about two (2) hours to see the entire exhibit, unfortunately one is not allowed to take photographs (copyright issues, flash issues and so forth) but I was allowed this one at the entrance to the Museum's shop.

While in Paducah, we took the opportunity to visit Eleanor Burns' shop Quilt in a Day and Quilters Alley.  We rang the door bell at Caryl Bryer Fallert's, Bryerpatch Studio but sadly, no one was at home.  Paducah is such a pretty town, we had lunch at Kirchoff's Bakery and Deli (made their first loaf of bread in 1873) and enjoyed a stroll along the Ohio River.  Our visit to the National Quilt Museum is one that I will not soon forget.  Hopefully my travels will bring me back to Paducah and to the National Quilt Museum.  Enjoy!

Feeling Fall

Greetings,
I'm back in the studio.  It takes a few days for me to settle in and get back to work so here are some shots of fall which is just around the corner, you can feel it in the air.  These photos are of my neighbors' properties in Missouri, some of whom took their pumpkins to the farmer's market and then invited us to sit awhile under this beautiful awning.

Pumpkins going to Market

Butterfly Hill Farm

Enjoy!