Today's Guest Blogger: Chris Daly: "Finding My Creative Place"

Greetings from Southwestern Wisconsin! I love to learn and explore new media.   I try to challenge myself and learn new techniques whenever I can.   Working outside of my comfort zone helps me to grow as an artist.

  

 I found my way back to art and creativity through a set of stained glass classes that I took with my husband in the 1990’s. I had put myself aside to be a wife and then a mother.  It was this class that made me realize how much of me was missing from my life.  Once that door was opened, it led the way to so many more opportunities.  I just follow where I am led…

My husband and I have always had a strong connection with nature.  After 5 years of searching for a new place to call home we landed on a small farm in rural Wisconsin.  Waking up here every day is like a dream come true.  I see inspiration everywhere I look.  Most of my original designs are abstracted from nature.

Our move introduced me to a huge community of quilters.  These women and men have enriched my life like I never would have believed possible.  We teach each other and share our ideas.  Small sparks become big ideas when we bring our creative energy together.

I love bold, bright colors.  I dye many of the fabrics I use.  Dyeing fabric allows me to work with color pallets not available at the local quilt shop.  I still work in stained glass, but fiber arts have really taken center stage.  These two loves were combined when I started making my miniature quilt block jewelry.  Each piece of jewelry includes a machine pieced quilt block made from my hand dyed fabrics.  I sell my jewelry and hand dyed fabrics on the internet and at local quilt shows.  I also belong to two internet art quilt challenge groups.  I like the idea of working from a theme or keyword and then letting your imagination interpret the design.  I usually start with a concrete idea in mind and end up with something completely different by the time I finish.   I just follow my intuition to see where it leads.

 You can read more about my rural life at: www.shadygrovestudios.blogspot.com
I maintain a second blog that is related to fabric dyeing with tips and tutorials and show and tell: www.dyecandy.blogspot.com  
Warm regards from Southwestern Wisconsin.  I am home and this is my creative place.
Carmen, thank you for sharing yours with me.