My ongoing work with my Flora and Fauna series continues with Vole and Viburnum. Vole and Viburnum is featured in the current March 2014 issue of American Quilter Magazine, which will be on newsstands February 4th. I used it as an example in my article “Cognitive Textile Artist Process”. In the article I break down my creative process in terms of metacognitive strategies, and offer suggestions for analyzing how artists can approach their own idiosyncratic creative process. I’m quite proud of how the article turned out, and hope you all have a chance to read it. I’ll be talking about the technical parts of my process in this short series of blog posts.
The meadow vole, Microtus pennsylvanicus, is a small rodent resembling a field mouse but with a stubbier tale. Their populations around my yard and garden seem to rise and fall due to the season, the weather and the presence of predators, including cats. In winters with consistent snow cover, they build their highways and byways in the top layer of mulch and leaf litter, where they are free to cavort and breed and feed with relative impunity.
I began this work by obtaining a vole skull and taking macro pictures of it. I edited the pictures and printed them on acetate transparency sheets, which served as negatives for making cyanotype prints on cotton.
I layered the prints with batting and backing fabric and intensively quilted them.
Up next—the viburnum.
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