We climbed a trail not far from our house that rises steeply above the city with sweeping views of (foggy) San Francisco Bay. It was a new trail for us, winding through eucalyptus groves and passing a spiral made of stones that someone built (not a labyrinth, to my dizzying disappointment). One section of this Hillside Natural Area took us through twisty Live Oaks, a very hobbity feeling throughout. I took several pictures.
Another day took us to lunch at Café Leila in Berkeley, where a mixture of local art always hangs on the walls. Brightly colored oil paintings and watercolor landscapes made me itching to get into the studio to make something new and colorful. But what?
Working from one of my photos, I drew and cut out the twisty oaks on frosted Mylar for a large stencil, stenciling white on black. But with the large stencils it always seems a shame to use them just once. So after flipping it over, I stenciled with black on white. One quilt with two sections? Or two quilts the same size? After working with them a while it became clear there would be two quilts. Where was the color? French knots in shades of green became the leaves. I had some previously dyed cotton and linen, and the letterpress printing from a quilt not yet finished happened to be the same shade of green. Somehow it all came together.
This is the dark quilt, completed.
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