Sharon M

I am so excited to be a part of this challenge group, it is definitely a new experience for me. This is also my very first blogging post. For our first challenge my personal goal was to create a picture with depth. I am not an artist and have limited drawing skills so I am pleased to have achieved the goal I set for myself. My hidden treasure is the treasures of the heart. In this attic room we see a woman who comes to open her heart strings as she spends a few stolen hours going through all her most valued keepsakes. She has boxes with her children’s school work from many years before, grandma’s favorite crystal dishes, doilies made by her great grandma and her favorite books. She listens to old records as she looks at photos in her dad‘s favorite chair. What was once her hope chest is now filled with old toys, knickknacks, the first quilt she made and her wedding gown.
To create my picture I started with a rough drawing of the room on a piece of muslin. I built the room by fusing my fabric onto the muslin and thread painted the floor so it would look like a wood floor. It took a lot of thought to make this feel like an attic room and I felt the best way to do this was with the floor opening. My fabric for the walls is carefully cut to give the room depth. The frame is done with embroidered designs and they symbolize the key to this woman’s treasure is her heart; the winged key because it is an eternal treasure. Shirley has given us many thread painting lessons and I have used her techniques for making my objects for the room. They are appliquéd onto a stiff base and then applied to the picture. I tried to create folds in the woman’s skirt by crinkling my fabric and fusing it. I have added some buttons for embellishment. It was hard to know when to quit adding items to my picture, I had so many ideas but given the nature of my treasure I tried to keep it as simple as possible.
I really enjoyed this first challenge and look forward to doing the next one!

Sharon M.