Thursday, March 10, 2016

Extinct

We took a few months off but now we are back! Our prompt this time is "extinct."

Pat: Nola was a Northern White Rhinoceros. She lived at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park but died in November 2015. That brings the world population of Northern white rhino to 3. Those 3 were unable to breed and are now too old. Extinction of this species is happening now.
To create this piece I used thread painting on black fabric enhanced with some white highlights. I wanted her to look ghostly - consistent with the extinct theme. There is narrow piping in the binding.

Cathey: Nola. By coincidence, I also chose Nola! For my process, I used TAP to transfer the image and hand calligraphy for the text. The background is ice dyed fabric over-dyed with orange.

Hope - Tree Frog. These colorful frogs are so beautiful but habitat loss leads to extinction and these creatures are at risk. This piece is raw-edge applique.

On a recent trip to Sierra Leone, I acquired some fabric that was died with cola nuts. It looked like feathers to me and made a great bird!




Shelia Rae- My piece is about nuclear extinction. The glasses on the side are used by the military for special training for a nuclear event. Fire, black tulle, nuclear particle embellishments and atomic symbols work together to represent this type of extinction.

Marcia - The "Showy Lady Slipper" is a specific type of lady slipper difficult to cultivate and now almost vanished from much of its historical range due to habitat loss. I traced the outline of the lady slipper from a botanical picture and used colored pencils to give soft color.


Melanie - Ammonite. Ammonites are an extinct group of marine mollusk animals. The last species died out during the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event. I love the shape of these fossils and am always amazed that nature produces such complex beauty. The piece was created using Tsukineko ink. I didn't plan to use a border but this Stonehenge fabric seemed perfect to set off the design. 


Joan - My extinct piece is the rotary dial telephone. It is not quite finished but a picture will be added when it is.