Living This Creative Life

I have two favorite quotes. The first one is by Emile Zola, "If you asked me what I came into this world to do, I would tell you that I came to live out loud". I don't know who the second one is by, but it goes like this, "If you're not living on the edge then you might as well jump". Both of these sentiments sum up my personal philosophy of this experience we call life on earth. Enjoy!

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Art Every Day, Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Good Morning,

Here is today's new piece. I have to admit it took about 1 1/2 hours - all that precise cutting out! My goal here was to add a little musical chaos to the very graphic/geometric design field.  The addition of the swoosh of yellow cheesecloth along with the three narrow wedges that look as though they are drifting across the piece are doing just what I wanted them to do.  I had to quilt the hell out of the bright white to get it to stay in the background and all I did with the black bits was to quilt them down just inside their edges in hopes that they would stay in positive space in the mid ground which I think they are managing to do.
Because the white base fabric is sitting on top of black batting there is some dulling of it therefore keeping down the feeling of simultaneous contrast that could have overwhelmed the small piece. 
It's so nice when things work out the way you had planned.

Which, brings me to the piece above  from a few days ago.  I originally showed it oriented like it is in the photo on the left.  But when I went to hang it in my dye studio with all of the others, I realized the the balance was a lot more pleasing when I hung it upside down like it is in the photo on the right. I like the new orientation so much better.

Well, it's off to work I go,
Till tomorrow,
Heather

P.S. Thanks for your comments Steph.  I understand how helpful it is to have real visuals to "prove" the processes of attaining depth in quilting.  I'm so happy to share.

1 comment:

me said...

I never thought of using a darker batting to dull a background fabric, what a great idea! Of course, until you starting dyeing all of this batting, there really wasn't much choice. I love pieces where the batting shows between the layers with that little splash of color.

I'm seeing more and more what you meant about heavy quilting making something recede, and this piece shows it so well. I'm taking notes along this series!

You have been smashing all of my pre-conceived notions of quilting and color since I started learning from you. lol

For instance, this color combination is so bold, I would have thought there would be so much competition, yet I feel harmony when I look at it. I know that has to do with the balance as well, and this has such nice flow to it.