Wild Life: Wetlands

In 7 years of Viewpoints 9 challenges, this was by far the most difficult one for me to conceive of a piece for! I thought and thought on this one, Sue...I think being married to a geologist was definitely an advantage. I struggled to get beyond rocks and gemstones.

But then, I started thinking about how geology and people interact (warning** stream of consciousness follows) and how geology pretty much dictated where people settled and what they did for a vocation. How the things that geology provided, rich soil to grow food, coal to provide energy, a body of water for trade or transportation, dictated how they lived. It was really interesting to pose geology in that fashion. It is interesting that people migrating to the US settled in areas that looked geologically like where they had originated from, like the Welsh in Eastern Pennsylvania or Scandinavians in Minnesota. For many of us now, we can pick where we want to live, as we are largely detached from our environment in our effort to survive. We can live in the mountains or the desert or near the ocean. So I would pick near water, preferably the ocean, but I love the bustle of life that goes on in wetlands. The birds, the dragonflies, the fish nurseries, and all of the weeds and grasses. Turns out wetlands are a geological feature or landform....

Wild Life: Wetlands features a black-necked stilt from the local Yolo Bypass Wildlife Area. I used some of the indigo Arashi Shibori fabric I made this past summer (all of the details are here on my blog ) as my shallow water. My bird, grass and reflections are raw-edge appliquéd hand-dyed silk charmeuse.