the Deep End

the Deep End
24" x 60"
Yeah!  My work was accepted into this year's Dinner @ Eight exhibit Reflections!  It is quite an amazing line up of quilt artists and I am so honored to be a part of it!

Here's a close up:

I was invited to create a piece for this exhibit with the following notes: 
A mirror image. A response to a thought or word. A memory. What glints back at us as we gaze upon the water. The throwing back by a body or surface of light, heat, or sound without absorbing it.  What will your reflection reveal about you?
I had a lot of ideas.  I had seen many spectacular views while kayaking on Town Lake in Austin, so one day I took my camera with me and captured a few really beautiful scenes:

Really inspiring, right?
However, after taking these photos, I had trouble getting started.  So, I decided to wait and let the right idea come to me.

That's when I went swimming.  I noticed the beautiful gleaming reflections on the under surface of the water.  It was an unusual viewpoint and fascinating.  And, I just love being under water.  It is so quiet there.  The noises of the world are dampened.  It is a great place to just be in the moment and quiet.  The only thing diverting my attention is the need to breathe, and all that focus on breathing pulls me right into the present moment.  A good place to be.  So for me, the under water piece is a reflections of where I am now, another self-portrait, but more subtle.
Here's one of the photos I love.  I got this one while trying to take underwater photos, and was slowing floating upwards when I snapped it:

Almost makes me hold my breath just to look at the picture!  lol!