Guardian Dragon

Here is the dragon I have been working on. As I worked, it seemed to develop with the oriental dragon look. I "saw" him in the anomalies of the hand-dyed fabric. However, trying to draw him free hand with the machine resulted in a rather odd shape. It is difficult to look at because it ISn't like what is in my head. (I mean, what is it with the turkey thigh legs that I couldn't fix? And what is it with the head that looks like he has been watching too much bad television? ) So a goal this year is to work out how to draw dragons better. However, in a way it fits with some of the naive shapes of the dragon/lion sorts of monsters that are seen in oriental art.

I have been doing dragons for the Fast Friday Fabric Challenges. Challenge #29 for January 2009- Working in a series (if desired) with concepts of Analogous colors and Rhythm/Movement or Tension/Energy

As you can see the analogous colours are centred on green - yellow green - and even blue-green threads. The tension is created with the baby in the basket in front of the dragon. Will the baby be harmed? Or is the baby under the protection of the "monster"?

I used examples of stitching on "dragon coats" for the quilting patterns .

I had thought I would give the Journal quilts a miss this year. They aren't doing them through the Quilt Art list in the same way any more. But, the Contemporary Quilt Group are doing them again. The first year they followed the A4 size, like the original Quilt Art ones, but last year they did 12x12. I showed you the ones I did. This year, the size is 6x 12 either landscape or portrait orientation. I like the idea of the smaller size. I also like the idea of challenging myself to work within a different shape. It is still rectangular like the first ones, but much narrower.

What I decided was that if I was going to do the Fast Friday challenges and try to keep them small so I could actually get them done. I thought I would keep to the idea of samples. Well, that is also the focus of the journal idea, so why not combine the two? So, I guess I am signing up for the Contemporary journals again this year...just combined with the other.

I missed challenge 28, due to the upheaval over Christmas, but I have an idea. So, I will see how I get on with it.