Lake Series, The Beginning

I've been pondering with awe about Paula creating 100 clocks for Art Socket. It's difficult to comprehend making that many art pieces of the same thing. But it got me to wondering and has made me curious about what I could learn from that sort of experience. Consequently, I've begun a series of lake scenes using my ortwork technique.

Lake #1 - 13"x8"- 2007

This is a personal challenge to see how far I can go before feeling burnt out on the subject. A number of pieces, about 30 or so, featuring my beloved Lake Michigan have already been made in the sunset, beach scenes, and Postcards from Michigan series. In this one I want to portray the lake in its many moods ... just as every day it's different from the one before ... as is every hour ... and every minute.
There will hardly be a dent made in the bags of scraps I've saved and gotten from other people. I'm also purposely using recycled materials for the whole project. I have old drapes and lots of home decorator fabric samples from interior decorator friends for backings. The batting is cut from old army blankets that we no longer use at the cottage. They were brought back from the war by Lee's uncles.

This brings me back to my initial intent when I first began quilting. I intended to use only fabric samples of which I had a lot from my mother's-in-law shop and recycled fabrics. At the time I wondered why fellow quilter's looked aghast and hooted at me. It didn't take long to find out why. A quilter in a fabric store is akin to a kid in a candy shop. For the last two years I've been pretty good about resisting the temptation to shop. If you've looked at the posting "Studio South" you've seen the supply that's been purchased and read about the containers full under the cutting table. If I lived another lifetime, I wouldn't run out. So, here I am using scraps/orts ... not just mine, but other peoples as well.