It has been about a year since this quilt was on the board at QSDS thought about and stared at. I have continued My Dad's Pad's in a different format in an ongoing exploration of this theme.
Each quilt contains a quote - prescription of something my dad used to say. My siblings and close family friends have been collecting the oft repeated phrases we remember.
When the top was examined at QSDS I was struggling with issues of foreground and background the obvious pointed out to me by Elizabeth Busch who I was studying with. I tend to busyness in my work and in this quilt it was all muddled. This is what I started with.
I wanted the prescription to be the focal point but here all design elements blend together. I knew it wasn't working but the easy solution was not within my grasp. Elizabeth who paints her fabrics suggested toning down the background with paint. I am not a painter well not yet so I went for a fabric solution and trotted down to St. Theresa's Treasure Trove and found some sheer hot pink silk to tone down the background.
This is how I left with it last year a work in progress.
It has been a struggle to get up to speed in my work since my dad died. I finally broke through with a card for the Fiberarts Guild Sleight of Hand 9 of Diamonds. Then I went back to this top worked with transparency and realized that I liked the subtlety and message of the spirits in the background behind the silk. With that in mind the foreground needed more attention. The aha arrived with the thought of my man the leap of faith from a Peter Max sleeping bag particularly appropriate because my family adores Peter Max art which my father displayed in his office. Referring to an idea born in Wish I had a Hammer in this piece my leap of faith man is carrying the Caduceus once again thinking about my dad the eternal optimist.
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