The 36 birds pictured on the Bella Vista Decorative Artists' hand-painted quilt are all native to Arkansas, club President Marge Macedo said.
The club is raffling off the handmade quilt, and the winner will be chosen in November.
The raffle is the club's only fundraiser for the year, and proceeds will serve as operational funds for the club. Every year, members invite national teachers to present their talents and lessons, which comes with a charge, of course.
Last year's fundraiser was a card party, which took months of work to plan.
When some members, who are also quilters, suggested the idea of a quilt, Macedo liked it.
The group pulled together a large number of different patterns before finally selecting Arkansas birds. They worked on the cutouts and laid out the pattern to make a template including all the birds.
Every bird painted on the quilt looks to the center, club member Kate Dowd pointed out.
The artists were then allowed to pick which birds they wished to paint. Choices depended on ability and level of detail, as some painters are still novices, Macedo said, including herself.
When all the paintings were finished, club members set the work against different color scheme backgrounds and chose green tones to complement the nature scenes.
Within about two and a half months, the project was complete, Macedo said. One member put the quilt together and another finished the final stitching, using freestyle quilting, she said.
The birds are painted on the fabric using acrylic fabric paint, then a sealing agent is applied. Though it can be washed, most people don't wash their quilts, Macedo said, instead taking them to the dry cleaners.
Raffle tickets are being sold throughout the city by club members for $1 per ticket or six tickets for $5. The drawing for the quilt will be Saturday, Nov. 1, at the club's regular monthly meeting.
The club currently has 52 members, and meets the first Saturday of every month. The group alternates meeting locations between The Studio at Wishing Spring Gallery on McNelly Road and the Village Insurance Community Room.
Members work on a variety of unusual projects, Macedo said, using mostly oil-based, watercolor and acrylic paints on multimedia surfaces.
Some projects are a little outside of traditional art, Dowd said.
Each month, fellow members offer presentations to teach their skills.
Club members also participate in area service projects. For example, for Mother's Day this year, artists painted canvas bags and filled them with goodies, Dowd said. The bags were given to children whose mothers were in shelters, to give as gifts.
The club also collects items for area food pantries and the Shriners' hand-painted "treasure" boxes for hospital bereavement programs. They recently painted a flag depository for the American Legion.
"We are trying to get new members," Macedo said. They are especially hoping to get younger women, and men are welcome as well. Members must be 18 years or older.
For information about the club or the quilt, which will be displayed at Arvest Bank in Town Center in September and again in October, call Macedo at 479-531-1231 and leave a message. Or, call Pat Davis at 479-855-6319.
General News on 08/27/2014