Dreaming of Moose

Quilting started on young moose.

During Open Studios last fall I met another of the Caribou Artist-in-Residence, Anne Gifford. Anne is an award-winning artist from Boulder who is currently working in watercolor. I have admired her work at the Boulder Arts and Crafts Gallery for years, so it was fun to meet her and swap Caribou stories.

Like me, she had a close encounter of the moose kind during her stay at the DeLonde barn. She also had a visit from the curious cow and calf. Recently Anne finished a painting, Moose Magic, which I not only fell in love and bought a print of, but which also got me excited about starting a moose artwork of my own from my photos.

The process of making the initial drawing and then doing the tracing onto the muslin backing took a couple of days. During those nights I dreamed about the chocolate-brown moose with red highlights. So how he turned into a red-violet and violet moose I’m not sure. I know I was pulling from the red fabrics on the shelf. There was even a stack of red fabrics on my table when I cleaned up and put fabric away today.

How odd.