I did a little printmaking and a lot of mulling (without the wine – though that sounds like a great idea!) working through ideas for Elizabeth’s quilt. I didn’t come up with any workable prints, though I did have a lot of fun printing (haven’t done that for a while).   More importantly I figured out what I want to do for Lib’s quilt.

I’m going to make four 7”x7” fairly plain prints with white and silver encaustic, the pattern of which will mimic the quilting of the cream colored panels in the quilt that Lib made. I’ll makw five 7”x7” green prints in a fairly subdued matching pattern. I’ll make a few yellow and brown prints with fairly subdued patterns that I will then cut up to match the shapes in the quilt that Lib made. I’ll then applique the shapes onto the green squares and sew the green and white squares together in a checkerboard pattern matching Lib’s quilt.  Still giving the trim some thought.

Looking closely at the quilt that Lib made I believe it was appliqued so this is in matching with it and it fits with my project goal of wanting to explore different types of quiltmaking.

Now onto the mulling and elephant number 1. I’ve been thinking a lot about Lib and my affinity for her. I too had no children. For me it was by choice. For someone whose art is largely and self professedly about family history and “the loss of generational knowledge transfer” this does on occasion, strike even me as odd. When I was young I always thought I’d have children. The older I got and the more set in my ways I became the less likely it seemed. When my nephews and niece were young I was fairly involved in their upbringing, this was enough to get my maternal instinct out, and to show me how much work is involved in it. I came to realize that I had other priorities. The focus of my artwork on family heritage, and more generally on generational knowledge transfer, is my way of passing on knowledge to the next generation.

And then there is elephant number 2. My husband and I are in the process of having a home built in Belize and are preparing to move there full time within the next two years. Again, for someone whose work is all about family, moving to another continent seems somewhat antithetical. When asked why we are doing this my first instinct is often to say, “Because we can”. We are having an off grid, sustainable house built where we will both be able to pursue our lifelong passions full time (for me my artwork, for my husband his music). While I admit I will miss the proximity of family, the internet makes staying in touch much easier and planes do fly back and forth from Belize to Maine.

For those interested, I am planning to wrap this project up before we leave and then switch over to blogging about making art in the jungle when we get there.