Ballast (belatedly)

The 6th challenge of the Living Planet cycle was Irreversible, thus my offering is way overdue. My sincere apologies to my fellow V9ers for taking so long to share my piece. I've worked on it in fits and spurts and kept thinking, and still do, that there is going to be something more to add to it. Sometimes the piece has become my tangible mourning so no doubt there will be more.

Ballast is defined as a heavy substance placed in a vessel to provide stability and control. Irony. My brother had a longtime fascination with blacksmithing and had a collection of over 600 anvils. One would have thought he could not go anywhere, but he did. And that was what I felt was Irreversible.

My brothers uniform, throughout life, was a denim shirt and a pair of Levis. He changed it up a bit, but he eventually returned to the standard. When he died, he left a closet full of denim shirts, from the almost new to the threadbare, filled with his life and his stories. I gathered them and brought them home.

I love the signs of wear. I took 5 left front panels that went over his heart and removed the pockets to reveal the memories. I pieced them and patched them and started to stitch....and stitch....I know there is more to be added, but I'm not certain what at the moment. It will come to me in time.