Every day we walk through life seeing ordinary objects.  But only occasionally do we stop and enjoy their beauty.  

While walking around my dad's barn, I was lucky to see this weathered grey piece of plywood glistening in the sun.  The varied greys and organic lines of the wood pieces contrasted with the stamped symbols.  Weathering had warped the individual splinters of wood creating a dynamic texture.

I wanted to translate the individuality of the splinters into a harmonious collage in fabrics.

I started dyeing various colors of grey fabrics.  In my quest to obtain greys, I created a range of greys from green to blue.  Once I had my symbolic plywood base from dyed fabrics, I started thinking of ways to maintain some aspects of the plywood that I liked. I chose to represent the weathered look of the plywood by layering hand-dyed organza on top of my symbolic plywood base.  This softened the sharp lines in the collage.  I was surprised by the map-like quality the collage had taken on unexpectedly.

 The grain of the wood is interpreted in machine stitching.  Several strong lines from the photo are hand-stitched as well as my representation of the stamped symbols.

Though hard to photograph, my plywood shapes are encased in black organza so the light comes through the panels to mimic the way the sun glistened on the plywood that day.