SONATA FOR CW

2002
43" x 59"
NOT FOR SALE

Sonata for CW

cotton, linen, silk, tulle fabrics fiber reactive dye, textile paints metallic, rayon, cotton threads,tinsel lucite, glass, metal leaf shape beads and buttons glass and metal charms, beads foil leaf shapes golf tees hand painted and printed fabrics commercial Chinese prints collage construction machine quilted embellished by hand

Carol (CW) commissioned me to create a very personal quilt for her. She explained that she loves fall colors, has two wonderful butterscotch-colored cats (Sonya and Sasha), enjoys travel, plays the piano, and also plays golf. And perhaps I could also include something about her friendship with our mutual friend, Stephanie, and their meeting in China a year ago.

I immediately "saw" a curving keyboard floating through the middle of the composition. I also envisioned the piece covered with the colors of fall with lots and lots of leaf shapes, and decided to hide the two cats with eyes peering out at us in the leaves! My well-used block of three people would be printed over and over to indicate friends and travel to meet new people and customs.

Stephanie, very much involved in the creation of this piece, gave me a little silk bag she had purchased in China with Carol; I immediately worked it into the piece. Stephanie also lent me a box of Chinese stamps that I printed in various locations throughout the work. I found a wonderful piece of bright red-orange printed Chinese fabric in my stash of fabrics, and I was off and running! The one glich for me: how on earth to incorporate anything about golf?

After some thought, I asked Carol to send some tees to be used in the embellishments. I truly enjoy doing commissions. They challenge me in ways I don't push myself. I often find that the "client" wants me to work with images or colors or moods with which I am unfamiliar or even uncomfortable. I think it is good for me to stretch in these ways: For example, those golf tees certainly had me wondering for quite a while! I figured out the keyboard first. That was lots of fun.

A music teacher friend gave me a photocopy of a keyboard to use as a reference. Next came the broad expanses of fall color. This is where the bright Chinese fabric came into play. I went out scavenging for leaves, made rubbings of several different kinds, and then used them as patterns. I cut lots and lots of my hand painted fabrics into leaves to scatter over the quilt surface.

I cut the cats' heads and tails out of a wavy stripe print I made, and "hid " them amongst the leaves. Finally, adding one more layer of imagery, I embellished with lots of different leaf shapes and several strategically placed tees. There are also two tiny glass cats and a wee mouse for them to chase.

There is a real sense of movement in the piece, so I decided to do my machine stitching and quilting on the diagonal. I think this work is a "sonata" because it involves several disparate elements flowing around each other. And yet, they are united into a complete, harmonious whole.