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!

Friday, February 8, 2013

Art Every Day, Friday, February 8, 2013

Good Morning,

Here is today's new piece.  I am so loving this exercise of daily art. It affords me the possibility of working out so many ideas, mythologies, techniques, special effects etc. within a small space and with little emotional involvement. I'm always talking to my students about "practicing" their art making.  This daily work is really pushing that idea home.
This piece is quilted almost to death.  I began by stitching down the red square and surrounding it twice with two red threads through the needle.  Then I stitched the three red ovals in the white portion using the same two red threads (one a little dark, one a little orange).  Everything else is stitched with a medium valued gray. The vertical lines in the white stop short at the edges of each of the red swirls making them poof off of the surface and strengthening them as the focal point.  The horizontal lines in the gray/black push it back but also work as a counterpart to the vertical quilting in the white.  Note the wavy lines that move horizontally across the surface in the area of the red square.  They help draw attention to the square securing it as the counterpoint to the focal point.  I adore this piece.  It's bold simplicity really turns me on and check out the play in the hand dyed fabric. Yummy, if i do say so myself.

Well I'm off to work my booth at the Sew Expo,
Till tomorrow,
Heather 

3 comments:

me said...

This piece is stunning from afar- and even more so close up. The quilting details really make me look it over in earnest.

The palette is attention-getting, with the red swirls and square popping out against the mottled grey. It seems that the white is dulled down some by the gray and also the black batting, so it provides emphasis and support but doesn't take away from the red.

It's so effective to use different quilting to bring attention to different portions of the piece, and stopping the quilting around the ovals does pop them out!

The background fabric IS yummy with all of its variation! It almost looks like a tree silouette :)

Steph said...

Love how a few elements, composed in a balanced, thoughtful way, create such a bold, exciting statement. Again, the quilting adds such interest to this piece and the thread work with the red swirls really pops off the quilt (again, "pop" achieved and accentuated by the quilting).

Probably a silly question but - is the background fabric one of yours? Love the changing values and variation. Hard to find fabric like this in my area and this is the type of fabric I've really been drawn to more and more. Not os interested in prints as I used to be.

various artists playing together said...

Hey Steph,
Yeah, the background fabric is one of mine. In fact, I'm only using fabrics and embellishments that I have dyed or painted so that each piece is as entirely mine as I can get it. So glad you're enjoying the show!