I originally finished the quilt, “Friends of the Oak Park Conservatory” in December 2008 ,but some how always felt that something was missing. I wanted the turtles to stand out as they were an important factor in the “Friends”. Here is my first original:

So after some thought and the pressure of upcoming shows, I decided to tackle the tension problems first, and think about what I could do to make the turtles more prominent, but not to take away the original design too much.People thought they were rocks. So I thought I’d add some gold fish. At least then if people didn’t see the turtles, they at least could think that maybe I was talking about the fish. Then I worked on the water and added some more detail. Before in the dark areas of the water, the detail was just in using paint-stick and you really had to get up close and personal with the quilt. Now, I think there is more flow in the water that leads the eye to the turtles. Next, my problem became that the foliage was almost all the same value. there needed to be some more detail and contrast. I added black stitching to help in this.
I feel more satisfied now. I’d like any opinions.