Art Over the Atlantic, Part 2

Egads, I hit the swapping jackpot in the latest Phat Quarter Swap.

Full Fathom Five, 2013, by Bridgeen Gillespie.

Check out this gorgeous artwork I received from artist Bridgeen Gillespie. The theme for this swap was simply the number five, which I selected to commemorate the fifth anniversary of the Mr X Stitch web site.

A fellow poetry enthusiast, she took inspiration from Ariel's Song from The Tempest.

Side view. Photo by Bridgeen Gillespie.

Full fathom five thy father lies;

Of his bones are coral made;


Those are pearls that were his eyes;


Nothing of him that doth fade,


But doth suffer a sea-change


Into something rich and strange.

An illustrator, fabric designer and all-around creative goddess, Bridgeen lives in Northern Ireland and is the owner/director of the design company Cherry and Cinnamon.

I adore the texture of the layered fabric and the wrapped coral.
Photo by Bridgeen Gillespie.

As you can see, her work is utterly unique. For instance, I've admired the way she creates depth of texture with the layered, raw edged fabric and the rich, wrapped coral. (You can read about her process for the piece here on her blog.)

Images of Ireland by Bridgeen Gillespie.

As a phrase,"full fathom five" means that something below five fathoms of water. That is, drowned. Lost to sea. I see oceanic inspiration in Bridgeen's work, most obviously in this gorgeous post card from her "Images of Ireland" collection that accompanied Full Fathom Five on its journey across the Atlantic to me.

Stitched Selfie by Bridgeen Gillespie, from her website.

Indeed, the sea is "rich and strange." As is so much of Bridgeen's artwork. As is so much that I find beautiful in this world.