IQF portrait quilts, part 5

I have a few more portrait quilts to share from the International Quilt Festival in Houston. If you’ve never been to Quilt Festival, there’s no way to imagine the vastness of it all. Sheer overload. I was at the show on Preview Night and the following two days. I could not see everything in that time. I balanced my time between standing by my own quilt, seeing the other quilts, and shopping. I’m so thankful for digital cameras! It gives me the opportunity to really study the details and thoroughly enjoy the quilts.

One artist I truly enjoyed meeting was Gail Thomas. She is a beautiful woman with long, wavy, silver hair. She was friendly, gentle, kind, and full of information. She is a skilled painter, and I think I remember she said she teaches painting as well. It would be fun to take a class from her. The quilt she had at the show is called “Someone Found,” and it was about a little girl who lived with the Comanche for 24 years. Just look at the beautiful coloring in the closeup. She is obviously skilled in watercolor painting besides, which is something I could not truly grasp. She was telling me that patience was required — no wonder I didn’t get these results! I’m always in too much of a hurry to wait for each layer to dry properly. Be sure to visit Gail’s website, http://www.gailthomasart.com/ .

“Battle of Greasing Grass (Little Big Horn” is by Patsy Heacox. (Sorry, I could not find a website for this artist.) I like how she placed the sepia portraits on time-worn map. She also included beading, which does not show up in this picture.

Look at her incredible mastery of portraiture. Just one of these portraits would have been inspiring, but to do six of these amazing portraits was incredible. The sign said she drew these portraits with Tsukineko ink. I would love to see more of her quilts. Patsy, where is your website? I want to be a groupie!

(As mentioned previously, according to IQA’s quilt photography rules, “If you post your photos to your personal web site, you must include appropriate credit for each quilt artist, and note that the photos were taken at International Quilt Festival.”)