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Wednesday, June 27, 2018

“Drawn to the Light”

“Drawn to the Light”
Copyright Susan Brubaker Knapp 2018
30" x 50"
This is my latest work, “Drawn to the Light,” which was recently juried in to the Best of Dinner@8 Artists’ exhibition. It will debut at International Quilt Festival in the fall. This is a whole cloth painted quilt (which means it was painted on white fabric) and then free-motion machine quilted. 

It features 13 moth species:

Row one, from top left:
Rosy maple moth (Dryocampa rubicunda) – pink and yellow; upper left
Comet moth (Argema mittrei) or Madagascan moon moth – yellow with brown spots; upper middle
Emperor moth (Saturnia pavonia) – orange and pink; upper right

Row two, from left:
Atlas two column (Attacus atlas) – orange and yellow with white spots; left
Luna moth (Actias luna) – green; middle
Garden tiger moth (Arctia caja) – orange, brown and white; right

Row three, from left:
Blue tiger moth (Dysphania percota) - blue with some yellow; left
Spanish moon moth (Graellsia isabellae)– green with chocolate brown and black; right

Row four, from left:
Oleander hawk moth (Daphnis nerii– green camouflage pattern; left
Giant leopard moth  (Hypercompe scribonia)– black, white and light blue; right

Row five:
Spiny oakworm moth (Anisota stigma) – rusty orange and yellow; left
Green carpet moth (Colostygia pectinataria) – greens; middle
Io moth (Automeris io) – yellow and orange with black spots; right

Here are a few photos of the piece in progress. I drew the moths from specimen photos, then scanned my line drawings and digitally positioned them within the 30x50" space. I printed out the design full size, and stretched fine cotton fabric on top, and painted the moths. For detailed information about my process, see my blog post “FAQs: Wholecloth Painting” here: https://wwwbluemoonriver.blogspot.com/2014/01/faqs-wholecloth-painting.html





This is the first piece I free-motion machine quilted on my new BERNINA 770 QE machine. The extra space (10 inches to the right of the needle!) and the bobbin, which holds 70% more thread  than a normal bobbin, really come in handy on a large piece like this. 



The background is densely quilted in a pattern to suggest cross-hatching. I chose it because it looks a bit like screen, and I am used to seeing moths on my screen doors in the summer. 







A catalog of the exhibition will be available later this summer. I’ve already seen a number of the pieces that were juried in on social media, and it’s going to be a fabulous show!

17 comments:

  1. Just gorgeous, as usual! Thanks for sharing.

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  2. Wonderful work...u make Charlotte proud xo

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  3. Beautiful! And, the "screen" background is perfect!

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  4. Your work is beautiful and well deserving of being juried into the exhibition. Thank you for sharing the “in progress” pictures. I stumbled upon your quilt on Pinterest. It’s the first time I’ve seen your work, so I’m off to see more of what you’ve posted.

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  5. Your site has a lot of useful information for myself. I visit regularly. Nice post! This is a very nice blog that I will definitively come back A very interesting proposition. Thank you so much for sharing this information!

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  6. It is quite possible that we are so moved and delighted by your art that words fail us!

    Always & everything I love...but you had me at Luna moth!❤️🌿

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  7. Such a beautiful quilt! A real labor of love! I love how you quilted the background to look like a screen, too!

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  8. I’m anxious to learn your technique at Asilomar next year. It’s something I’ve been wanting to try. See you in March!

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  9. Love the idea of painting fabric instead of doing applique to create a design element. Thank you for the information and inspiration.

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  10. Do you have the patterns for the moths? They are beautiful.

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    1. I'm sorry; I don't. I don't do patterns for my artwork, unless I am teaching it.

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  11. As a quilter and ecologist, this piece is breathtaking. What a true work of art!

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  12. I saw this design on Pinterest (It's beautiful!) and a quick search later came up with a rip-off on a site called azcozy. I don't know if you have the time, money, or inclination, but after reading the really crappy reviews on another site, I knew the design was stolen from somewhere. You might try having a lawyer write up a cease and desist. Good luck.

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  13. Beautifully done!

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