Monday, February 1, 2010

Bella's Sanctuary

"Bella's Sanctuary"


When the word “Sanctuary” was revealed, I wasn’t sure in what direction I wanted to go. At first, I thought I might go with the animal sanctuary idea, but that just didn’t seem to inspire me. During a conversation with my gentleman friend, we talked about all the different ways that the word could be portrayed. What came out of the conversation was the idea of how a small child finds sanctuary behind mom. I called my niece and asked if I could come over and photograph her daughter Isabella hiding behind her. Although it took several tries (I wish I could show all the silly faces that Bella gave me from behind her mom) I finally got the perfect shot. I translated that photograph into my sanctuary piece.


I used both hand dyes and commercial cotton fabric. These fabrics were shaped from a template and appliquéd together by glue (I love Roxanne’s Glue-Baste-It). The eye, lashes and brow are a combination of pismacolor pencils and fabric paint. The entire piece is covered with a layer of black tulle before any stitching is done. There is a lot of thread sketching, especially on the jeans. The background quilting is in a spiral, which you will find in many of my recent pieces, and I faced it with a hand dye of pink and beige that seemed to fit with the colors from the front. A few beads and sequins finish out the background but don’t seem to detract from the focal point of the little girl’s eye.

I really like this small quilt and hope to do a larger rendition in the future.
Lisa L. Kay

7 comments:

  1. Wow! What an incredible start to this project. I love how you got the perfect expression in Bella's eyes and I think you quilting is wonderful. It would be great as a larger piece too!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Lisa this is just fantastic! You really did a wonderful job capturing the "look" in her eye. Nicely done!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Lisa, what a super job of this you have done, I can almost feel that little girls heart beating.. while curious, yet secure. I think all moms can relate to this one.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thank you ladies for your kind comments. I have done a couple of self portraits but this was the first one done on another person. I really enjoyed doing this and can't wait to start on the next callenge!

    Lisa

    ReplyDelete
  5. Lisa, I love your piece. You did so many different processes and your work is very precise and beautiful. The concept is special. Now I am of an age when grandchildren hide behind my legs.........so special.We wouldn't trade it for the world. Thanks so much for sharing this place so well. Helen Moreda

    ReplyDelete
  6. This piece sure speaks to the heart. It also offers many interpretations if you don't know the story. I like that. Good work.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Your sister who is on a knitting group I am on, gave me your blog address as I am an art quilter too. I think this is wonderful. Shirley

    http://shirl-oneofakindfiberarts.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete