Klimt in the Garden with Rumi : March

March signals our change of season in New Zealand to Autumn and it still feels very warm but with a slight nip in the breeze. Inspiration for the month continues to be roses and the pink of dawn. The Rumi quote is "The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you. Don't go back to sleep".
I began with this lovely serviette I was gifted earlier in the month and I love how I also used it in my latest art journal spread. I like to have elements on my cards that tie them to the month they're created.   

It informed my colour choices for the rest of my gatherings. I decided I would include a bird instead of a butterfly this month - bonus that I found that metal "listen" tag that's been in my stash waiting for the perfect project

My base watercolour card is a 5 3/4" square and I began by adding some washes of colour for grass and the dawn horizon. I love that night sky fabric - feels very Klimt-like to me, but swapped it to another piece of more dawn pink tones. 

I tested out the layout 

and began attaching the fabric pieces and words by machine-stitching with gold thread (Klimt). The swirls I hope give the feeling of "breeze" (Rumi)

I ended up including less elements than I thought, using a smaller flower and leaving some of the dawn colours without stitching

Once I'd decided I'd done all the hand stitching (hardly any this time) I attached the backing fabric with a zigzag using the same gold thread - I chose this fabric for the hot colours reflecting our warm temperatures and the patterning looks Klimt related

The wooden bird element I eventually settled on (because of where I wanted it positioned) was glued on with Reeves super heavy gloss gel. 

I am satisfied that the finished card contains elements that fulfil my goal of "Klimt in the garden with Rumi", and especially love the tag and the New Zealand bird. Loving this project. This is the story so far :

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. Check out the labels below for more entries about this project.