Art Quilt Series – Tree Studies – 2009-2013

In 2009, I started a series of art quilts celebrating the changing seasons of the West Coast of Canada, each featuring a single tree.  To design the tree, I grafted together photos of several trees in my neighborhood – the trunk from one or two trees, branches from several others. The branches were arranged to form interesting positive and negative shapes – the tree and branches are the positive shapes and the background and sky behind the tree and between the branches are the negative shapes.  My plan is to show the same tree in different seasons.

To date, I’ve made four quilts in this series – Frosty Winter Morning in 2009; Starry Winter Night in 2010, Spring Blossoms in 2011, and most recently Even Trees Get the Blues.  I still feel the need to create an Autumn tree quilt, and probably a Summer one, too.  So there will be more  . . .

“Frosty Winter Morning”   35″ x 47″  (c) 2009

A solitary tree with snow laden branches is silhouetted against a wintery morning sky. The colors of this quilt were inspired by the two fabrics at the bottom of the quilt featuring plants covered with frost. Many other pale and pastel shades of pink, lavender and gray evoke a cold and frosty feeling.

“Starry Winter Night”   35″ x 47″  (c) 2010  [Sold]

This art quilt features a frosty white tree with snow burdened branches, silhouetted against a dark and cold starry winter sky and snowy landscape.

“Spring Blossoms”  46″ x 47″  (c) 2011

Every year, I eagerly await the first blossoming cherry trees, which symbolize the arrival of Spring. After a long, dark winter, I marvel at the clouds of delicate pink and white blossoms that adorn the trees. I love walking through the trees as the petals float and drift in the breeze like pink confetti, then gently carpet the grass below.

“Even Trees Get the Blues” – 48″ x 48″  (c) 2013

While I was searching for fabric to use for the foliage for my newest tree quilt, I found some lovely blue floral fabric. My first thought was ‘that fabric would be perfect for my new tree quilt, except it’s blue’. My second thought was ‘maybe I should make a blue tree with that fabric’.  It evolved into this piece of a blue-leaved tree with a chartreuse trunk against a lemon yellow sky.