Here’s hoping you have a wonderful 2026! Meanwhile, I received a reminder email about the Bluebonnet Swamp Art Spectacular held in Baton Rouge annually. I’ve been entering an art piece since I discovered it five years ago. It is free to enter, and artists are allowed to sell their works. I’ve sold my pieces for the last few years and hope to do the same this year.
This year’s smaller piece is going to be about 12″ X 18″. When you see the photo, you’ll understand why. You know how it is when you have an idea in your head, and it must manifest itself into something. I get like that with art quilts. Idea, play, serious play, action. Idea is usually some kind of challenge or something that I want to learn. What’s the difference between play and serious play? Mostly, I’m just having fun cutting fabric and testing ideas. Serious play happens when I see the quilt come to life in my head. Action is when I actually put things together.
My idea had to be something with a swamp theme. I looked at photos and wandered around the little swamp by my house to give myself fresh visions of what I needed to think about.
Play was fun and easy. I knew I’d do something a little dark and mysterious, so I pulled out dark green and brown fabrics. Palmettos grow in large clumps in just about any piece of land you can imagine. (There are some on my driveway.) They don’t really grow in water, but the water’s edge can be overrun with them. Walking through a dense thicket can be dangerous for both the sharp edges of the palms but more so for the snakes that love to bed down in the center of the clumps. So, I had to have palmettos, which meant lighter browns.
Of course, a swamp isn’t much if there are no cypress trees. That dark brown served me well for the trees and the cypress knees. Spanish moss love oak and cypress trees because the branches easily hold it. I added gray for moss.
Then the water. Most people think of beautiful blues and aquas for water. But a swamp is generally stagnant, so the water is much more brownish, grayish, blackish. It really depends on the depth of the water, the types of trees growing nearby or in it, and the time of year. In summer there’s duckweed, which is green. But it’s supposed to be winter here, so the water appears to have less life in it. But don’t be fooled. Critters of all kinds are sneaking about, looking for food, and trying to avoid getting eaten.
In the photo above, the piece is still on my longarm. I love building small pieces on the longarm because I can move things around without causing problems. Also, I don’t have to move anything from a table to a domestic machine. I can’t imagine trying to do that with this art piece and all of its little 1/4″ confetti.
