January 21, 2018

New Work - In Dreams I Drifted Away

In Dreams I Drifted Away, by Sue Reno
In Dreams I Drifted Away
 I am happy to share with you my latest work, In Dreams I Drifted Away. It's part of my River series of art quilts about the Susquehanna River. Many of them reference a dream. The title for this one seems self-explanatory, but is open to diverse interpretations. My views on it evolved as I was designing and constructing it.
In Dreams I Drifted Away, detail 1, by Sue Reno
In Dreams I Drifted Away, detail 1
 The center panel is a pieced from wool felt and various silks. The center portion is heavily needlefelted and embellished with silk, wool, and mylar fibers. The borders were hand embroidered. This was slow, meditative work.
In Dreams I Drifted Away, detail 2, by Sue Reno
In Dreams I Drifted Away, detail 2
 The top portion was also slowly constructed over time. Each of the hexagons was basted over a paper template, then hand stitched to the others with the English paper piecing method. The background for this section is Mysore silks.
In Dreams I Drifted Away, detail 3, by Sue Reno
In Dreams I Drifted Away, detail 3
I mono-printed the ripples for the side and bottom borders onto cotton sateen. I added couched threads the length of the quilt to add to the sense of movement.
In Dreams I Drifted Away, detail 4, by Sue Reno
In Dreams I Drifted Away, detail 4
 It's 60" high by 45" wide. Enjoy!
In Dreams I Drifted Away, detail 5, by Sue Reno
In Dreams I Drifted Away, detail 5
You can track this work back as a work in progress by clicking on In Dreams I Drifted Away in the right side bar, or click here. And as always, thanks for reading and commenting.

6 comments:

allie aller said...

How I wish I could see this up close...it is marvelous here on the screen, but I know I would drift deeply away and into it if I was standing right in front of it...your thouhtful abstract quilts remind me of Erica Carter's.....very personal, yet elusive too. So beautiful, Sue.

Sue Reno said...

Very kind of you dear Allie! For me, part of the subtext is that the Susquehanna is notorious for its treacherous undercurrents....all is always not how it seems.

SPC Matsick said...

I appreciate your whimsical treatment of the Susquehanna River. This afternoon I visited Columbia River Park and viewed the ice flowing one way and migratory birds going the other. Your quilt has more vibrant colors than what I saw. I hope that when I return in the Spring to ride my bicycle there I will be able to dial in more readily on your interpretation.

Kathy said...

Slow, contemplative, detailed work like this allows us to jump in and savor it. Wonderful!

Sue Reno said...

Thanks Amos! Yes, this is a spring mud-and-fresh-green kind of palette. I'm looking forward to taking my bike out on the trails as well.

Sue Reno said...

Thanks Kathy, I appreciate the validation and the interest.