Majestic Flight

Joanne lives in a rural area in Southeastern Oregon with wetlands, bird
refuges, forests, and lakes nearby. After teaching for 27 years, she wanted to do more quilting and drawing and focused her attention on art quilts. She and her husband are in the outdoors often and she takes pictures and sketches birds and different landscapes whenever she has the opportunity. Her goal is to create very realistic scenes in nature that resemble paintings. In the last couple of years, she has started using more color and texture and graphic art elements.

Majestic flight is Joanne’s interpretation of three large Great Blue Herons in flight. The birds were constructed separately. The bodies were thread painted and each feather was cut out, highlighted with inks, and fused one at a time. The background started with bright colors that were cut into strips and pieces and then fused together to resemble a sunrise. It soon took on a life of its own. Landscape features were cut from my own ice dyed cottons , silks, and organzas. Paints were added to create highlights, shadows, and reflections. A flange was sewn to the main body of the quilt and then a border was added that included pieces of fabrics to match the landscape of the quilt.