Vita Marie Lovett painstakingly crafted Birdhouse at Turtlecreek Farm and shared it at the Aullwood show. It is by far one of the best, if not the best examples of thread painting I've seen.While it is a quilt (3 layers sandwiched together), Vita Marie lowered the feed-dogs on her machine and did free motion work to "draw" on the fabric with different threads in order to "paint" or embroider this image.
Most quilters are at least familiar with the technique. Those of us who have done it can tell you the hours it takes to do this, and the resultant amount of eyestrain it causes.
The piece is relatively small, only 15" x 12". One of the things which makes this really stand out is the fact that there is next to no distortion. Usually, sewing down this many layers of thread causes it to pull and bump in areas. I didn't find this to be the case here. I particularly like her painterly approach to the weathered paint. Some people will sometimes say "well, why didn't you just paint it? It would have been a lot faster."
Most of us who do this type of work are fully capable of painting it. Instead, this is our medium. This is what we choose to do and I think that the threadwork really gives this piece something which you couldn't achieve in other mediums...not to say that doing it in other mediums wouldn't be just as charming.Art quilters are artists...our medium is thread, cloth and other fibers. Vita Marie used canvas as her ground which of course helped it to stay flat...but none-the-less, it is a great piece of work and I'm glad she shared it.
Vita Marie drew her inspiration from a rusty birdhouse at the edge of a pasture on Turtle Creek farm, which I presume is her home.
I hope you enjoy this piece as much as I do. Vita Marie lives in Maryville, Tennesee. Here's the URL for her website so you can see more of her work. Maybe one of these days I'll figure out how to put in a hot button!
http://www.vitamarielovett.com/homepage.html
6 comments:
Wow, this is great! This is so well done I thought the "straw" coming out of the hole was three dimensional. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you for sharing all these wonderful quilts. They are amazing. I can tell you how to do a "hot button" if you have BlogSpot. Email me if you want instructions.
Thanks Vivien and Norma. I know that when I show in a venue where I can't visit, I love to see what else was there and how my quilt looked... Aullwood, while a very fine show, is a very small venue...and it's also in that "Flyover" state that I can't seem to convince people to visit!
Lisa
Thanks Sara! And congratulations on your first comment! I really appreciate knowing you like it and are willing to come back. Welcome to my little corner of the 'net.
Lisa
I have SO enjoyed seeing the show through your eyes!
Thank you.....
I had two entries accepted but if you want to see my declined entry go to my website and click on the pattern section to see BLUEBIRD.
Ruth, I do love your work! I had a little trouble finding it, as it is on your blog. Here's the URL for others who might want to look
http://www.ruthpowersartquilts.com/weblog/?tag=bluebird
You'll have to cut and paste as I dont' think I can make a link in a comment. Thanks! Lisa
Post a Comment