Solitude

In this decade, I continue to try and improve my skills and focus by working in a series.

I am particularly drawn to trees with their various shapes, colors, and patterns. One inspiration is a hardy group of trees on Rialto Beach on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State, and I started decided to do a series on them. It is so windy and cold that the pine needles and bark on the trees in front have been blown off by the wind, leaving only a silhouette of their trunks and branches. Eventually the trees fall down, get swept out to sea, and come back as driftwood, the entire tree from roots to the top of the tree is one piece of driftwood. There are 4 miles of this driftwood. It is pretty humbling.

My fascination with these trees is the silhouette of the white barren trees in the front, against the dark forest background and my feeling of total vulnerability in this place. I am attracted to this high value contrast and the patterns of the tree shapes, textures, and neutral colors. One of my tree quilts, "Sentinels," was juried into the Visions 2012: Brainstorms show that was in San Diego. The quilt I am entering here, "Solitude," returns to the circular theme of my earlier quilts on the Rialto trees.