Thank You for Yes {Bloggers Quilt Festival!}

This is a first for me – my first entry into the Bloggers Quilt Festival, hosted by Amy’s Creative Side!

It was tough to pick a favorite quilt that I’ve done so far this year, so I decided to go with my most recent completion Thank You for Yes:I’m very glad to give you the background scoop as part of the Blogger’s Quilt Festival:

I attend St. Lukes United Methodist Church here on the northside of Indianapolis.  St. Lukes has two wonderful galleries with rotating displays of all different types of art.  Curator of the gallery Lorie Lee Andrews (an amazing artist in her own right and a dear friend) and her committee periodically host art challenges.  Thank You for Yes is one of my entries into the Eastman Angel challenge.

Our challenge was to use the Eastman Angel, a famous monument at Crown Hill Cemetery as a leaping-off point for an artistic interpretation.  You know I’m a little crazy about cemeteries – how could I refuse?

Here is a photo of the entire monument – it’s very impressive:

As I sketched her, I realized that using the figure as a whole was not going like I wanted – I would have to make the finished piece fairly large in order to get the detail that I wanted.  I isolated sections (wings, hands) and shot a close up of the face:That’s better.

A bloggy friend asked me to think about what this monument “said” to me.  It took a long time and too much over-thinking to finally come up with an answer – I think the angel says “welcome home.”  The angel’s hands and position on steps in front of the cross seem to invite souls to be rejoined with their Maker

It tied into the whole idea behind the “green man” myth that has be rattling around in my mind for a couple of months. In pagan mythology, the Green Man reminds us that vegetation will over everything that man creates, eventually consuming and obscuring every handiwork of humankind.  Everything returns to the earth – nothing that we do or create is immune from being returned to the earth.

I’ve tromped through a few cemeteries, and it is exciting, yet frustrating and humbling is to find the disintegrating tombstones – crumbling, overgrown and mossy.  I love the markers that are hidden and pockmarked from weather.  They have personality and charm.  They reflect the values of the times in which they were created, so they’re full of symbolism and wishes for future generations.  And, regrettably, they are on the edge of returning to the earth, just like their owners.

“Welcome home” the angel seems to say.

The e.e. cummings quote was a lucky find – I felt the references to the “greenly spirit of trees” and the “blue dream of sky” were perfect for the nature-filled image I created.

The lines of the angel are free-motion quilted with black thread on handpainted muslin, then the piece was colored with ink and markers.

Blogger Quilt Festival Stats:
Size: 16″H x 12″W (framed to 20″ x 16″)
Special techniques: Free motion quilting, painting with inks, markers
Quilted by: Christine Moon
Best catagory: Favorite Art Quilt, Favorite Wall Hanging

Thank you so much for stopping by – and check out other entries in the Bloggers Quilt Festival.  All the best -

Chris