I’ve finished this piece on Lake MacDonald which I started in an abstract landscape class with Patty Hawkins in March. Normally I finish work quickly but not so in this case although I can say I really enjoyed taking my time with it. I created a lot of texture in the mountains, ripped out the sky twice, and left the water reflection to the end because I was so intimidated by it. And yet it worked and I am inspired to ferret out more landscape photos from travels…a lifetime supply no doubt.
The original image 
was taken through over-hanging branches. In the end I could see it surely did not need any more layers of fusing or stitching, proving that contrary to popular belief you can mess with mother nature!
Because I have found my artistic voice I seldom take workshops anymore but I always learn something when I do. Sometimes it is that I never want to do said technique again and to me that is worth the price of admission.
What I learned this time is how much I love designing landscapes. They are a wonderful puzzle of value and texture. It is great fun to audition fabrics until just the right one pops the composition. I also learned that as much as I love the ease of designing with fusing, I hate stitching through what could become 5-6 layers of fused fabric. I plan to continue with more landscape work although using more piecing and applique than fusing whenever possible.
The next piece is a detail of a cropped landscape thereby making it very abstract…stay tuned.
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