Terry Aske Art Quilt Studio

Each year, SAQA invites each of its members to create a small piece of art and donate it to the annual SAQA Benefit Auction.  The auction has a dual purpose – to increase the recognition of quilts as art and quilters as artists, and to raise funds to support SAQA’s exhibitions, publications, and education outreach activities.  Last year, over 350 quilts were donated and the auction raised almost $80,000.

You can see some of the 12 x 12 inch art quilts here.  Keep checking back because many more will be added in the next couple of months.

Here’s my entry for the auction, ‘Heron Reflected 2‘.  (If this looks familiar, that’s because I used the same photo in March for my donation to the SAQA Spotlight auction.)

In May 2015, while walking along the Fraser River, I spotted a Great Blue Heron perched on a tangle of roots (actually a log with roots attached, which had floated down the river and embedded itself in the riverbed).   I snapped a photo, and posted it on Instragram.

I was struck by the almost perfect reflection of the Heron in the very still water, and thought it would make a great subject for a quilt.  But I was not thrilled with the lack of color in my photo.  So I used a photo-editing app called Sketch Guru to add some fanciful colors.

I printed the enhanced photo twice – once on cotton sheeting and once on cotton sateen.  I was experimenting with the various inkjet fabrics I recently ordered from Dharma Trading Co.  The cotton sateen had more of a sheen, so I thought it would be more appropriate for water.  I layered the printed photo and machine quilted the water lines.

Then I ironed fusible web to the back of the cotton sheeting print and cut around the Heron and the roots (but not the reflection).  I fused this on top of the cotton sateen print, and stitched around the edges.  This made the Heron and roots appear more solid, and the reflection look more like a reflection.

I used shiny rayon thread for the water lines (on the right below).  I outlined the roots with gray and purple thread.  I outlined the Heron with purple thread, then again with yellow-orange thread to give him more presence (yellow-orange is the complimentary color of the Heron’s blue-violet, which means outlining him in this color gives the strongest contrast – subtle, yet effective).

Here’s a close-up of the outline stitching:

Thanks for stopping by.  Today, I’m linking up with these blogs – click on the links below, where you’ll find many other creative projects to inspire you.