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!

Saturday, February 9, 2013

 Art Every Day, Saturday, February 9, 2013,

Good Morning,
Here is today's new piece.  I really didn't do my idea justice.  Looking at it now, I realize that the colored bits should have been much smaller, with more variety.  They look too chunky.  And, hurry, does not make a straight line.  I managed pretty well in the white portion, but the lines in the dark grey got a little angled near the middle and I do not really like that.  
However, the piece is really showing how differently the colors play off against the two dispirit backgrounds.  Note how the colors seem brighter against the edge of the dark gray background and duller against the edge of the white background.  However again, the colors seem brighter where the circles are stitched with white and duller where they are stitched with gray. I enjoy seeing/recognizing how much colors and neutrals effect each other.
Now I'm off to the last day of the show at the Merchandise Mart.
Till tomorrow,
Heather

P.S., Miss Christa, thank you for your constancy in fabulous comments!

2 comments:

me said...

Thank YOU Heather, for your extreme generosity in sharing all that you are learning with this series!

The slight angle in the gray portion seems to give the illusion that it meets up in a point off where we can't see it. So while I can understand you not liking it if you were trying to get it straighter, I think it adds an element of interest.

The first thing that stood out to me was how the different thread colors played on the colored pieces. It's so interesting to see how they popped the color out or set it a little behind. Your focal point really has this undulating depth because of the two colors.

I think too often I feel there is a right or wrong color to quilt with, when this piece makes it obvious that there isn't. It only depends what look you are trying to achieve.

I am enjoying your use of neutrals with colors, it is really helping me to understand how effective they can be when utilized correctly.

Steph said...

I have to say circles are definitely one of the elements I am drawn to. I really enjoy seeing the interest created using the white and grey threads to create the circles and how the fabric colors change depending on which thread is quilted on them.

I did an experiment with a fabric colorway and Shiva paint sticks where I used the same four colors of paint stick (Napthol red , Ultramarine blue, Azo yellow and Phthale green - how do you pronounce that one anyway?) on each of the different colors of the colorway. There were six fabrics in this particular colorway and I used blue painter's tape to divide each 8"x10" piece into 4 quadrants. I then used each paint stick color in the same quadrant of each piece (Ultramarine blue in the upper left quadrant, etc). I also added white, clear blender and iridescent blender to different parts of each quadrant to see what effect each had.

Ended up with a 6-panel tool which shows the effect that a background fabric can have on each of the colors (eg - Napthol red on yellow fabric resulting a type of orange look to the paint). It was an fun and easy experiment that taught me a lot about how the colors interact with and affect each other. Now to use that new-found knowledge in my quilts...