The 'Inner Animal' reader challenge couldn't have come at a better time! Ever since the Quilting Arts Self Portrait challenge in 2005, I have been creating an annual self portrait timed around my birthday each year, as a way to reflect on the past and set creative goals for the future. Although slightly earlier than usual, I have just completed my "Self Portrait 2010 - Industrious" as a visual reminder to maintain artistic focus and to be more creatively productive on a daily basis.
Freshwater pearls nestled in paper cavities like little larvae, representing the tiny seeds of creativity planted in my brain, waiting to be nurtured into full fledged art quilts. The honeycomb is generously sprinkled with amber droplets of the 'sweet stuff', that delicious sensation of being lost in the creative process.
I kept as busy as a bee creating my quilt from my own hand-dyed cotton, commercial fabrics, a transferred image of the anatomy of a bee, hand painted layers of paper, traditional English paper piecing, hand and machine quilting, beading, and historical stumpwork embroidery techniques were used to stitch the bee by hand.