Cherries – A taste of summer

Cherries – A taste of summer – August 2014

Big, fat, juicy cherries come into season here in July. They are grown locally and in the nearby Rhone Valley and appear in local supermarkets, village markets and in wayside stalls which one can find all over this part of France in the summer. They are not around for long, so everyone makes the most of the few weeks they are available at quite reasonable prices.

The background fabric is cotton sateen from Stoll Weber. Cherry juice is depicted in the heavily quilted area with beads of juice dripping from the edge. I like text on my pieces as you know and the word Cerises, French of course for cherries, is quilted and filled with hand embroidered cross stitch using one of my hand dyed threads. The cherries are painted with fabric paint and shadows put in with more embroidery.

3 Indian boys

I love making my Indian Ladies quilts but am enjoying the challenge of making quilts featuring the men and pushing me to practice painting faces, although with this quilt it is a back view.
I photographed 3 boys walking down the street in Mumbai. It seemed such a typical sight. They have a cricket bat and a tiffin tin.
The background is painted with added applique in the same style that I have made the other 5 quilts. I have one more to make in the same style.

Gillian

Red Rock Crossing - Sedona, Arizona

I've changed my thinking about the power of the earth that is so abundant in Sedona, Arizona.  I used to think that the earth power came from the majestic red rocks around which Sedona is built.  My impressions have changed, though, during my last few visits to Sedona.  My favorite spot to visit in Sedona is Red Rock Crossing, a "vortex" point just outside of town where Oak Creek babbles and dances across some of those majestic red rocks.  Oak Creek originates more than 8,000 feet above Sedona as runoff from the volcanic San Francisco Peaks.  On its journey downhill, Oak Creek has carved the cavernous Oak Creek Canyon and has sculpted those majestic red rock formations that define Sedona.  I believe the real earth power in Sedona comes from the water.  That is what this quilt is about--the water at Red Rock Crossing.  Cathedral Rock is just a reflection in the water of Oak Creek--the towering red rocks shaped as a result of the power of the water of Oak Creek.

This quilt is my first serious attempt at thread sketching.  I have intentionally left the rocks virtually unquilted.  They emerge from the water just as they do from the waters of Oak Creek.  I printed a photograph on silk and added acrylic paint and organza to the rocks.  I thread sketched the water and reflections to make them the focal point of the quilt.