Another Use For a Wipe Rag

     At one of my art group meetings, ArtsEtc., we had a lesson on focal points. The plan at the meeting after the lesson was to compose a small art work. I chose a piece of a wipe rag for my focal point and brought fabric remnants that I had monoprinted at the same time I had produced that wipe rag so that the colors played well with each other. The little piece of the wipe rag reminded me of a horizon on an ocean that had a storm cloud hanging over it. So I set up the small swatches of fabrics around it to represent sky, clouds, surf, and sand. The fabric swatches had very irregular torn edges, but I liked that look for this piece about a storm on a rough beach. And I was in the mood to make a very freeform looking work so I didn't cut the edges or piece them together. I pinned them on top of batting and then started hand-stitching some embroidery to hold it together.
     I sewed on some lovely beads that I had purchased at the quilt festival in Houston in 2012 and some small seashells. I machine-quilted a background. I applied it all to an 8 x 8 gallery wrapped canvas following instructions from Lyric Kinard's Tutorial-Mounting Textile Art . I had never mounted any work before and found that tutorial very easy to follow.
     Here's a photo of a piece of the bed sheet from which the wipe rag was cut.

another wonderful wipe rag

Rainy Beach Day

Not a great work of art, but a very freeing one to make and a refreshing one to look at in person. It has a lot of little nuances that catch my attention and its wonkiness gives me the feel of how it is walking on an uneven beach in the wind. I'm linking this to Off The Wall Friday where you can visit other art quilt blogs. Please make comments to let the artists know you stopped by.