Saying things I don't want to forget through the process of making...

After the Covid lockdown in 2020, I began making pieced canvases to paint on. I’ve always been drawn to cloth: artist canvas, remnants, vintage and salvaged fabrics in natural fibers. Sewing the pieced fabric together with wool batting and a backing fabric—quilting—was a natural progression. The quilting is done on a longarm machine. Soon I found myself printing digital images I made from my paintings and photos onto fabric, then stitching these images into my compositions. To get the gradations of color I wanted or to add complexity to a shape, I began to paint on cloth with dyes and oil sticks. Sometimes I mask off a shape and paint during the quilting process. Often I will cover an image with stitching, in fact, painting with thread. I enjoy improvising designs and stitching with the freedom of drawing, finding inspiration in natural shapes, music, linear motifs in Asian and other art forms. These days, I am exploring ways to integrate stitching with my painting practice.