Boreal Climates

Our current prompt is Eco-Systems.

I knew immediately that I wanted my response to be about color in the natural landscape of Alaska, where I live.

In the winter, if we are lucky, we are covered in snow. Our natural world is white.

As we move through the months of the year, the amount of day light increases, and we find ourselves living in a land of brown and muck. Break Up season is what we call the colors of spring.

And then one day—it really does feel like an overnight happening—everything begins to bloom. A friend of mine calls this Popping Season. All the buds just pop out of their stems and branches. We are on our way to summer!

In some ways, it seems that we are very limited up here in the sub-arctic when it comes to flora and fauna. It is a rugged environment, and few species are up to the task of growing quickly and fiercely in the few months of our growing season.

Still, those plants create an amazing blanket of color and coverage at the height of their season.

This vast expanse of color and texture is what I hope to capture in my Eco-system quilt.