Exhilaration

The American Heritage Dictionary defines "Exhilaration" as    "The state of being stimulated, refreshed, or elated."

Sometimes all it takes to experience these feelings is to step outside on a sunny day.

The Haiku

scent of new mown grass

sunbeam caresses my cheek

living...feeling...aaaaah...

For the art work that I was preparing to go with this haiku - I didn't want to be too structured.  I wanted to indicate an almost childlike feeling of exhilaration with my composition and color choices.

At the same time, as a developing art quilter, I wanted to incorporate a couple of new techniques and see "what if"?

First off I used a "blah" pastel print in lieu of plain muslin as my base. I didn't mind that it partly "showed through" - just felt it added some interest.

I felt that color was of first importance in this piece - so before doing anything else I painted my background using acrylic paint.  In order to add some texture to the piece I used some Golden Light Molding Paste to parts of the grassy area.    

I quilted it extensively with heavy thread.  

Guila Greer