Birds bring life, beauty, movement and, song to my world, to my landscape. Anywhere in the world that I have traveled or lived, if I look and listen, pay attention to my surroundings, I notice birds. They bring a smile, and upliftment, a delight to life.
I was a Painting and Design major in college, and I draw well, so from my sketches and photographs, I draw freehand on silk to do the original paintings for my Art Quilts.
I often get photos of my quilts reproduced, printed by Spoonflower, and usethem or parts of them to create a collage, to fuse on to quilts. I generally embellish, after machine quilting, with my large, rich and varied button collection. Many people have their Mother’s or Grandmother’s buttons and don’t know what to do with them,so I am often gifted with these treasures, and I find the hand sewing of these carefully chosen buttons to be a verysatisfying andmeditative experience.
As for why birds, here is a poem from Terry Tempest Williams: “Once upon a time, when women were birds, there was the simple understanding that to sing at dawn and to sing at dusk was to heal the world through joy. The birds still remember what we have forgotten, that the world is meant to be celebrated."