My LIfe is an Open Book by Linda Moran

It's reveal time.....the piece has been done a while, since I thought it was due January 1. I look at it and have decided to make one change, based on how I carried it to a friend one day. But more on that later.

I think I finally have the confidence to try an actual portrait, but the lack of drawing skills - and sense of color values - has kind of freaked my out. But I think I am moving closer to trying it. Anyway, since marbling is such a part of my creative life, I knew I wanted to use marbled fabrics somehow in the piece. I came to the idea of a book, since we've all seen the end pages of old books. Then I had the idea of a book, so I tried to figure out how to put it together.....moderately successful, but I would definitely try it again!

So here goes.....My Life is an Open Book.

When you open the book......

...you see a digital rendering of one of our favorite places, the Tucson Botanical Gardens, and the Old Red Mill in Jericho, Vermont, where hubby's family settled.

Turn the page....

...and see a wedding picture of me and hubby a year ago at the Grand Canyon.

Turn the page.....

...and see our studio, and another digital example from the Botanical Gardens.

Last page....

...our business, which is 20 years old, and of course the end page.

The piece is 16 by 11, and the black background uses the cathedral window free motion pattern to give the black some interest.

Now, if I printed one more piece of fabric with the title, I could actually fold the "book" in half and have the title on the "front." Maybe next time......

Learned a lot, which is why I am pleased to be part of the group. I need to stretch, and this is definitely helping. Based on this first challenge, I want to figure out how to make my "pages" look better; I would probably need to use some fusible, rather than attaching with a decorative stitch, so I don't get all the wrinkles.

Now for the next one.....I've made the fabric, now I have to figure out what to do with it.....