Weekly Quilt Journal Project: week 11

I've really been getting into quilting faces for a while now. In fact, I've had a thing for faces forever. I used to doodle them as a kid, bought and sold face jewelry when I had my store, and have always been drawn to any kind of images with faces. They have character. Some are old, some are young. Some have lots of lines and wrinkles, and others are full and chubby. They all have their own unique personality. Faces intrigue me. Ok, so enough of that. 

This newest piece is another young lady very close to my heart. I came across the photo and thought it was time to find some fabric to bring her to life. Her expression says a lot don't you think.

On this blog, I have been revealing patterns in my life. So here is yet another emerging pattern. . . I have tons of fabric but never the 'perfect' piece when I need it. As was the case with this face. I auditioned lots of fabric and ended up with a piece that needed to be tweaked. So I painted and stamped a soft design on the mottled light pink fabric and proceeded to build the face. . . Another emerging pattern. . . this started off heading in one direction but ended in another altogether. That happens so often. I am learning to listen to the piece. It always talks to me and tells me what direction to go. But of course, there have been times, many actually, when I've tried to fight it. But it's never right and it haunts me. When I listen to my inner voice and do what the quilt is telling me to, happily it all works out.

Creating art as a kid and into adulthood I was always told that everything had to be realistic and perfect. I didn't always like to do it that way, but alas. . . I also struggled with not doing as I was told. So I did. I was drawn to Picasso, Miro, Dali amongst many others. Was THEIR work realistic and perfect? No. So why did mine have to be. I didn't get it. It's taken me a lot of years to figure out that I was duped and still trying to undo the damage.

So, back to the quilt, for the background I chose some fabric that was stamped with one of my own silkscreen designs and didn't like it. I  like the design but the paint seems globby, runny, messy. . . something wasn't so hot. So I tossed it in the failure pile. Just shows you that you never know. I say that out loud all the time. In fact, I preach it. Now it is proven reality. Nothing is a failure!

After finding the rest of the bits and pieces I needed to put it all together, along with a suitable backing, I began to fuse, cut and stitch. I like using the black thread as an outline. So, following my photo reference, I stitched the shadows in black. And voila!