THE PEACOCK QUILT
ACRYLICS ON CEDAR W/RED OAK FRAME
SUMMER 2014

     Leigh’s friend Merry is an amazing quilter and she invited me in June to do a collaborative project with her.  Needless to say I was very excited about the possibilities.  I believe the two-dimensional aspects of my designs lends themselves to being expressed as textiles and the idea of seeing one done as a quilt is intriguing to say the least.  She came over to look at my designs and together we came up with a design which incorporated peacocks.  I started immediately to draw the design and submitted it to her for approval.  I wanted the design to be both pleasing to her and capable of being transformed into a quilt.  The plan was that each of us would execute the design in our own way and then reveal the finished works at a later date.  My peacock designs were inspired by a Talwin Morris metal panel designed for a sconce showing an Art Nouveau stylized peacock.  I adapted it to fit the Northwest Coast formline structure and included spirals and other Celtic elements to create my peacocks. The British Arts & Crafts architect/designer C.F.A. Voysey has strongly influenced my art.  His wallpaper and textile designs have provided inspiration as well as design elements to be incorporated in my own designs.  Anne Stewart O’Donnell‘s 2011 book C.F.A. Voysey: Architect, Designer, Individualist presents many of Voysey’s graphic designs and  this has been a helpful resource.  Voysey’s wallpaper design from 1907 for Sanderson & Sons gave me the idea of painting the light green arrow-headed leaves in the background (see page 26).  The elderberry leaves and berries came from a design I painted in entitled Raven’s Choice (2011).  I made the frame out of red oak using pegged, hand-joined, mortise-and-tenon construction methods.  I used the Japanese technique (shou-sugi-ban) of charring and oiling the oak to finish the frame.  This has been a very fun project and I look forward to seeing the finished quilt in the future.

DIMENSIONS:     HEIGHT:  39 inches
                             WIDTH:  24 ¼ inches

                                                                       PRICE $800