Klimt in the Garden with Rumi in Hawaii

This month's Rumi quote is about being grounded in the present moment. This month I'm on Summer school holidays. I had 11 nights in Hawaii with my family, so my initial thoughts for inspiration are Hibiscus and Plumeria flowers, pineapples, the beach and colours of turquoise and gold. Let's see what I can gather first - remembering that my base watercolour card is a 5 3/4" square. 

I always start with lots knowing I won't use it all, but now I'm thinking this might be a month where I do a card AND something in my art journal. My fabrics are very cool but Effy used a monochromatic palette and my gatherings are far away from that....

OMG - I just found this piece with Hawaiian holiday flamingoes in my multi-coloured fabrics. I think it might be my backing...
To get started I got some gorgeous inks for Christmas 

so used them (except the white) over gold for the background as I did for the first project card. 

I started layering using machine stitching in gold thread as a nod to Klimt

and then hand stitching around the Rumi quote and to attach special pieces. I don't think the card is overtly Hawaiian but the rooster will remind me of the chickens we saw roaming around and hibiscus flowers were everywhere

I love the wee button which is from my grandmother's stash and reminds me of the colours and patterning in our hotel in Maui

Other touches of Klimt in the garden = as well as the floral selections, when trying to decide on fabrics I went with the spirals and gold.

This is very much a mixed media piece - the base is watercolour paper, the quote and hibiscus flower printed on recycled book paper, a mix of cotton and sari silk for the fabrics plus various embellishments. 

I'm dating the backs of these cards on the fabric with Micron Pigma pen

I've ended up with Klimt in the garden with Rumi beside the beach in Hawaii ♥ 

Grateful for sunshine, grateful for summer holidays, grateful for memories of happy family times, grateful for being right where I am in this moment.
I decided I liked the fonts/format of the quote I did on my first piece so have printed all of the year's quotes in the same way on some old recycled book paper. I like how the paper tears and it will give an element of continuity to these art cards. Here are my first 2 cards together : 

Read about the beginnings of this project HERE. Find out more about the "A Year with Rumi" class with Effy Wild HERE. You can also enjoy this class by joining Effy's Patreon account and paying monthly.