When I wrote about our theme Disunity a few weeks ago I had written about a chasm between factions in societies that could not be crossed easily anymore. This picture somehow nestled itself into my head and wouldn’t let go. So I decided to make just that, a wide chasm, a gap, a rift that can’t be crossed anywhere. The ground is separated, there is no common ground anymore. 

At first I thought about putting depictions of people on both sides of the divide, maybe some kind of bridge that was being torn down, or falling down. Then the simplicity of the picture seemed to be enough, the fact that there is no way from one side to the other. Seems to be pretty bleak, but I hope we are not there yet.

I found a perfect ombre piece of fabric in my stash, and used oil paintsticks and ink pencils to shade in the 3D effects.

This was a challenging but very interesting theme for sure!

The Great Divide

w 30″ x h 20″

commercial cotton fabrics, oil paintsticks, ink pencil, embroidery thread

raw edge applique, free motion machine quilting, hand stitching