This is very early in the process. The water and bird elements are pinned to the background fabric. You can see the original background elements were going to be trees. That idea was abandoned because it didn't seem to work with the back-lit bird.

When the forest background was discarded, I auditioned the bright sky fabric int he upper left corner to create the light that would back-light the bird. Being happy with that choice, I found that the Lake Powell-like scene just seemed to evolve as I held up other fabric options around the sky.

Here the art work is completed and all elements have been stitched onto the piece. It is not yet quilted.

Here we see the final piece. It has been quilted, the French binding has been stitched all around the piece and decorative contemporary elements have been stitched in each of the corners. A hanging sleeve has been added to the back, along with an embroidered label.