Last time I showed you my Rockies box. Today it’s Ireland’s turn.
I stayed with my friend Mary in County Waterford. We had a wonderful time driving along the country lanes visiting her relations, going to beautiful gardens, stately homes and castles. We walked cliff tops and visited ancient churches. And everywhere we went was a delight.
I was fascinated by a couple of things. Firstly the countryside, so different to Australia. It was compact and neat, but wooded and hedged. The country lanes ran between hedges so you drove surrounded by greenery and pops of colour from the hedgerow flowers. So many different, vibrant greens! It really is a patch-work quilt of fields and lanes and hedges.
Secondly was the most wonderful stone, ancient and lichen-encrusted. The stone was everywhere, in ruined abbeys, ancient towers, headstones so worn you can’t read the engravings. And walls! Around graveyards, house walls, quaysides, bridges, magnificent bridges, and long, long walls that fenced in vast estates and poked up through the greenery of the hedgerows.
I wanted my box to capture both of these fascinations.
As with the Rockies, the box was made with an A4 size paper printed with a photo of St Declan’s Cathedral in Ardmore. It is now a ruin but still has a strong presence. The finished box is 8 x 13 x 4 cm and sits neatly in your hand.
When you pick it up you can feel something shift inside. Maybe you are expecting another book of photos like the Rockies. Open it up and see.
Remember I said the countryside reminded me of a patchwork quilt? So, how could I not make a quilt. It is made of little squares of different greens with golden yellows to represent the ripening wheat, and a few blues for the sea. I covered areas with French knots as forests and hedges.
I wanted to carry through the idea of stone on the back. The material looks like roughly laid stones to me, and I embellished with with embroidery to create a lichen and mossy look.
I hope it surprises and delights. It folds back to fit into the box for the next person to open.
The patchwork came together quite easily as I knew what I was trying to create. And I have had all these years of watching many of you make quilts! I knew I had to make little paper squares to wrap the material squares in, and join them together. So thank you for all your tutoring over many blogs. Your fabulous quilts have inspired me.
The backing was more difficult. I tried a couple of different ways before I came up with this solution. Once I found the perfect material in my stash I knew where I was going. The process could have been frustrating, but it wasn’t. I just had to let the idea come to me in its own time.
I respectfully acknowledge the traditional custodians of this land on which I live and create – the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung People of the Kulin Nation, their spirits, ancestors, elders and community members past and present. The land always was, and always will be, Aboriginal land.
Anne Lawson Art 