The Children of War – for Sacred Threads
You are probably feeling the same as me – sad and stressed by the state of the world – particularly the wars that are continuing to destroy the lives of innocent children in Gaza, Israel, Ukraine, Sudan, Yemen…and the list goes on. There is no justification for a war that kills and maims children, and destroys their families, their homes….their future.
The only way to deal with my frustration is to speak out, and so I’ve planned this piece since the start of the year. I knew that Sacred Threads was the right exhibition to properly share my message.
In April I had just started to lay out this 40″ high, 82″ wide panorama of chaos. I made a drawing, transferred it to muslin with a projector on my design wall, and then began to paint in the children’s faces with Inktense blocks and fabric gel medium.
I brought this large project to the Alegre Retreat at Gateway Canyons (organized by Katie Pasquini Masopust) and begged for an extra table in the Independent Study workroom. During the week-long retreat, I began to build the applique collage. It was good to work on such a difficult subject in such a beautiful, peaceful place.
One of the great challenges of this piece was to try to depict the destruction of a city that has been leveled by bombs. On the left side of this work, I created ghostly zombie-like children. We don’t know if they are dead or alive. Behind is the monotone abstract anarchy of bombed and ravaged city. Later, as I finished the piece, I added the flames to make it more clear what had happened in the background. There are layers of meaning that you can only see as you approach from a distance, and then see details up close.
In the center we have children with more color on their faces, and I have added halos to indicate the sacredness of these children. The buildings behind them are damaged, but have more color. For months I saved photos of children in war-torn regions, and this helped me to block out a plan for a larger piece with several figures. In the end I painted the faces freehand – not from a photo – but from my months of studying these little faces.
I should mention here that before starting our company eQuilter.com, I attended a weekly figure painting group with a live model, and made hundreds of drawings and paintings of portraits and figures, over 15 years. I also studied classical portraiture during those years with a master artist who visited the area once a year. During my years as a fashion designer, I also made thousands of fashion illustration sketches. So there are many years of figure study and portrait painting in my past, which are still informing my artwork. I recommend weekly figure drawing/painting groups for anyone who wants to improve their realistic figurative work. I hope I have time to re-join this group in the future!
By the time our eye progresses to the right side of this work, we see a young girl reaching up to a Dove of Peace flying overhead. The girl is dressed in Blue and Yellow, the colors of Ukraine. This is my hope that this war that has dragged on for so long, may finally come to an end. Indeed this entire piece is a prayer for peace, for all children whose lives are being dimished by the dark stormclouds of seemingly endless war. When I look at these children, I do not see other people’s children. I see OUR children. Our precious future, sacred innocent souls caught up in the greed of corrupt men who desire power at any cost. I am speaking up for those without a voice, as I created this artwork.
There is no war that is worth the suffering and loss of these precious children.
I would appreciate if you would take this message and pass it on.
This art quilt will premier in Houston in the Fall of 2024 in a preview exhibit of Sacred Threads, then will appear in the main Sacred Threads event in the summer of 2025. After that it will travel in the exhibit. I mailed it off a couple days ago and it will be traveling for 3 years. My hope is that it will eventually hang in a place where decision-makers are inspired to fight for PEACE.
