Oh, dear! I'm just not at all happy with this, but it's what I've got. Transformation is such a great word. I have had so much going on lately that I didn't take time to do the word justice! Got very literal again. Started with fabric from old boxers that my boys wore several years ago. Those are all the fabrics in the top third of the piece. As the boys became men, the fabrics transformed into lovely batiks (tee hee). The horizontal, spirally fabric represents all the magical, transformational gobbledegook along the way. I felt like trying some hand stitching, hence the leaves and stem which erupt into a flower-flame. I still need to add some stitching, or some organza, or something! Will post another photo if/when I do. Hope you can see it well enough...the photo isn't so good, either!

Pennsylvania Transformation Transformed

Something kept bothering me about my challenge piece so last night as I was going to bed I decided to try something else.  The middle section was not getting the amount of attention that I intended for it and so I put it on top of the other two:

Just putting the three panels side by side did not work for me, but I think this arrangement is a better reflection of my vision for this piece. And now it is lucky that I had not finished the backs of these panels because I think I will add another layer to the back of the middle panel to make it stand out more. As I start preparing to leave this beautiful part of the country, by the way, I find myself envisioning ways to capture some of the emotional feel of this place as this piece tries to do.

Let me know what you think about the new arrangement . . . .

Madalene

Transformation Journey

Sorry I am rushing & didn't crop my tile floor background from my images. I am posting my Transformation art quilt top-in-progress plus 2 collages I have done in the past couple weeks. I began last November thinking I would make this piece about the on-going transformation my 21 year old daughter has been going through this past year to overcome some serious challenges. I imagined a combination of my painted canvas, stitched work that incorporated a PS-stylized image of her face somehow faintly on the piece along with the other paint. I bought PS 11, but am still poking my way through using it. Plus my trials of using various transfer methods over my painted canvas didn't work the way I want. Yet. Anyway, I realized in the last few weeks, this is and should be all about my own transformation in coping positively with the pain of her challenges. I believe in this quote by Dylan Hoffman," If we truly want to embark on the journey to psychological wholeness and spiritual transformation, we will have to enter some dark and dangerous lands, and encounter some grotesque and terrifying creatures." I actually stumbled on these words in an magazine I happened to pick up 2 days ago after having already painted & sewn. The universe brought them to me as I work on this piece and myself!

I have only painted canvases, cut them up and zz-stitched them together. Under some layers of paint is the message, "It is good to have an end to journey toward, but it is the journey that matters in the end." Next I will be adding some hand stitching lines & marks, then making the batting/backing sandwich, then machine quilting. So I'll repost when it is finished.
I also am doing 2 collages to donate to a local organization called Redeemed Ministries that supports young women who have been victims of the sex trades/ human trafficing. The collages will be part of a silent auction fund-raiser. The girls are referred to as Sparrows. One collage is finished. The other will be done when I add the text title "His eye is on the Sparrow" and I have that one framed. I am thankful this is not one of the problems my daughter has had.

Best wished to all. Looking forward to seeing your pieces and hearing your news.