It is hot in Portland. We went out to dinner and the car registered 95° at 7 pm on the drive home. I spent most of the day in my cool basement studio. I spent a lot of fixing images of 3 pieces of work to submit to a book titled: Art Quilt Portfolio: The Natural World. I wasn’t going to submit anything and then I thought, what the heck, might as well give it a go.

I also got the latest Aspen piece squared and trimmed. Someone sent me a ink to another art quilter’s Aspen pieces. Not sure if it was a signal that she thought mine were not up to par or what. I know that a lot of other people have done, are doing and will do aspen themed art quilts. I think I bring my own aesthetic to the theme.

I very much like what John Hopper said about my work:

There is a definite element of tranquillity that permeates her work, almost bordering on that of a serene stillness. Congdon reveals through a combination of screen-printing, painting, stencilling and discharging, a series of colour tones and textures that are able to transport us to the quiet places of the natural world. These undisturbed and untroubled havens might well be areas that are tucked away in the memory or imagination of the artist, though it seems more likely to be a matter of compositional thoughts that are imbued with Congdon’s love of the natural repose that she finds around her, and that we often find ourselves in forgotten and undisturbed corners of the natural world.

It is this remote tranquility that is the beauty and strength of her work. These compositions are landscapes, but of a more removed, introspective and abstract temperament than that usually experienced with fully representational art. Through her observations she is able to permeate the natural world with an element of silent stillness, that of a clutch of trees on a still winter’s day, or of a peaceful and placid cove, where the world has gone quiet and humanity is at bay, at least for a moment.

So, I soldier on, doing my version of the oft represented aspen.

I am cutting more leaves as I need to balance the left side of this piece. I have another piece rumbling in my brain that needs to be made. I have this one almost wrapped up.

Hope you are having a fantastic week-end, too.