My Artistic Process

From Dreams To Reality

My art often starts with a monochromatic dream. From there I start researching, looking for images that describe what I dreamed. It is important that the colors, faces, buildings, and plants are authentically what they could or should be.  I've realized over time that my dreams often give me insight into places and peoples I've never seen.

Once the research is finished, I begin to draw, using the photos as inspiration. Often I work from 30-40 photos, sketching many small drawings. I then enlarge the small drawings onto large paper the size of the piece, creating the basic design. After transferring the design to fabric, I paint using fiber reactive Procion dyes and can easily spend six months on a painting. The dyes are usually six values of one color (the color of the dream). Once the painting is finished, the next step is washing out the dyes, and batting the piece to prepare it for quilting.

Thread is my passion. It adds contour, depth, and volume to my creations. The threads make the images come alive through hundreds of different colors. My large pieces have as much as 25,000 yards and over 200 different colors of thread in them.

I choose to work in larger-than-life sizes so that when a piece is finally finished, viewers will be called from all distances to come closer and step into the story.