"Memento Mori- She Sells Sea Shells...."

It's only been this week that I have had a chance to get stuck into my "Treasured Memories " pieces.
I have had the research and some of the prep work done for ages but lots of other projects have kept me very busy these last few months!

So here's my first piece:

                                            "Momento Mori - She Sells Sea Shells....."

Momento Mori (we all must die) is a medieval christian practice of keeping a reminder of death near, not as a morbid act but to remember that we all must die and so should live life to the full. 

I have been using the skull image as a theme in my work for several years now and still find new ways of exploring and playing with it. I'm a huge horror and science fiction fan and ever since Buffy the Vampire Slayer brought vampire and horror into the mainstream I don't feel like such a weirdo working with this sort of image!

I spent a lot of time by the sea as a child and have lots of memories of collecting sea shells and bits and piece on the sand.

I found old drawings of shells and used a photo transfer method to put them onto fabric. They were then stitched onto a black fabric and then appliquéd onto a background and quilted.

Gold vein

And here is my 2nd quilt for this year called 'Gold vein'. No hand dyed fabrics this time, but all commercial ones.

Precious metal and stones

It took several months before I came up with an idea for this year's theme, but I finally found one. And coming up with the idea, is the hardest part, don't you agree with me? Here is my first quilt called 'Turquoise'.

I used my own hand dyed fabric for this and covered it with a layer of zapped lutrador. Second quilt is also completed, now I have to find it again to take a picture. It is somewhere in the luggage I brought home with me this week.

First of my 'Treasures' slow start - fast finish !

This is the first of my 'Treasures for 2016  'Red Centre'
I have based all 4 pieces on Australia and its treasures.