Sunday, July 20, 2008

Color and inspirations

If you've visited my Etsy Store you know I make miniature quilt block jewelry from my hand dyed fabrics. These are foundation pieced quilt blocks enclosed between two pieced of glass and then sealed with lead free solder.I was recently asked to choose my favorite colorways in my jewelry collection. Here is what I decided on. They are all reminders of childhood memories. This brooch reminds me of a Maxfield Parrish sky in one of his paintings. My mother used to read us stories from "Poems of Childhood" by Eugene Fields and Illustrated by Maxfield Parrish. The illustrations in that book were so dreamlike.











This pin reminds me of the fields of sunflowers near our favorite lake in Minnesota. This is a favorite memory for myself as well as my sister.


















My mother had an aunt that lived in New Mexico. Over the years we have all treasured the craftsmanship of lovely pieces of turquoise jewelry that came from my mothers visits to the area. This is the first pattern I designed for a pair of earrings. I love the flying geese pattern. The colors in this jewelry came from my first attempt at dying a color gradation. When I saw the result I was hooked!




This last piece was inspired by the only piece of clothing I still own from my childhood. It is a printed cotton sundress from Sears with a picture of Winnie the Pooh and Piglet printed on it. I'll have to dig it out to photograph it some day. It's so adorable. I hope you had a wonderful weekend! Mine was full of fun and family times.

4 comments:

ArtPropelled said...

Oh wow...beautiful colour combinations and gorgeous jewelry. I find it amazing that childhood memories and influences creep into our artwork. Sometimes I only realize later where an image or colour combination has come from.

Jackie said...

Your tiny jewellery quilts are absolutely exquisite. They must be tiny.

Susan Elliott said...

Chris, I LOVE these...I'm running over there right now to check it out!

Gwen Buchanan said...

Hi Chris, Oh I love flying geese and log cabin too... I have done several quilts using these patterns.. so versatile... so many color combinations... I used to make quilts all the time.. it was a passion and I still love it... Got it from my great grandmother...
she could make anything from nothing!!
your work is just beautiful!! and that you dye your own fabric.. oh i love that too. I used to dye my fleece when I was heavy into spinning.. I yearn to be doing both these things again...

need more days in the week and a fairy godmother...