Beyond the Series

The Guardian

Artwork Details

• Technique: Art Quilt

• Dimensions: 32" wide x 48" high

• Collection: Beyond the Series

• Availability: Private Collection

After the piece was finished, I still hadn't found the right title.

During art shows, whenever children stopped to admire the dragon, I would tell them he needed a name. They happily suggested names like George or Harry, and as a thank-you I gave each child one of the leftover gold lamé coins I had made for the original treasure idea.

Years later, at the same art show, a woman stopped by my booth.

"I don't know if you remember," she said, "but years ago you gave my son one of those gold coins for naming your dragon."

She smiled and added, "He still has it... and he took it with him when he left for college."

That simple little coin had become a treasured keepsake.

Sometimes you never know which small moments people will remember.

The Inspiration

A Dragon Needs a Name

Early in my art career, I thought I needed to create an entirely new theme every year. One year I focused on music, another on the ocean, another on cats, and one year... dragons.

Eventually I realized that constantly changing themes made it difficult for people to recognize my work from one year to the next. That's when I began developing larger bodies of work instead. Looking back, though, those themed years were a wonderful opportunity to explore new ideas.

This dragon was originally meant to be sitting on a mountain of treasure. I even began making gold lamé coins for the piece, but the composition never quite felt right. Rather than force it, I set the idea aside and turned my attention to another concept.

Inspired by the castles of England, especially Warwick Castle, which I had visited years earlier, I placed the dragon atop a stone tower as its watchful guardian. The treasure idea eventually found its home in a later piece, It's Mine, All Mine.