A Life on the Ocean Wave

Having finished my Sea themed quilts for the Endeavourers after rather a long period of creative drought, I suddenly felt inspired again.  I do think that the sea, as a theme, offers up so many possibilities and I am going to keep going.   I've just finished another little quilt.

A Life on the Ocean Wave

Inspiration for this quilt came from an unusual source - my coffee pot!  I suddenly saw a beautiful wave, and an idea came into my head pretty much fully formed.  It is lovely when that happens.  

I had such fun making little silver fish out of the metal from tea lights (thanks to Fiona who used this metal for her beggars' tokens)

and seagulls out of modelling clay.

I've hung the quilt on a piece of driftwood

and am just waiting for a less wintry day so I can take even more photos.

The Endeavourers #12, The Sea

The Endeavourers art quilt group have been working on the subject of the sea this quarter, resulting in a beautiful collection of quilts featuring all kinds of different techniques - check them out here.

I'm arriving late to the party.  The last few months have been difficult for us all and, like many people I'm sure, I haven't felt much creative enthusiasm but as people say in motivational books I gave myself permission to play for a bit! This subject is very close to my heart as I grew up near the sea, and still live near to it albeit in another part of the country further down the coast.   I find the colours and textures endlessly fascinating and it was these that I decided to think about to begin with, concentrating first of all on wave forms.

I started with the simplest wave quilting on calico.  It's a very peaceful and meditative exercise.

Then I pieced some waves.

I love that this piece almost looks carved in stone.

After that I progressed to colour

and then combined piecing, quilting and colour.

I realised that I loved the unfinished edges of this piece and will have to find a way to use this in future.

I made a copy so I could play with some seagulls

but this was just a diversion because I wanted to concentrate on making abstract pieces.

Finally, I wrapped three finished pieces round canvases - separate works which are also supposed to work together.  As things sometimes take on a life of their own, the pieced quilt became a kelp forest  (and by the way, if you have not seen the film My Octopus Teacher, with its stunning photography, it is worth looking up as a lovely and gentle antidote to the state of the world.)  The other two pieces reflect waves and ripples in sand.  Unifying all the quilts is a fairly heavy natural (and seeded) calico which I used for its lovely sandy colour and texture.  

Kelp Forest

Wave

Shore Line

The Sea

Although we have chosen our new theme - Memories - to work on in the coming quarter I think I will carry on working on sea-themed pieces as well.  I don't think I've finished my exploration of this subject:  getting these works finished has got me thinking again and I'm really looking forward to trying out some more ideas.  As a subject it opens up fairly limitless possibilities!

As always, I'm very grateful to be part of such a lovely group of creative and supportive members.  Please check out the other quilts on the group blog where you can also find links to each individual quilter.