Art Every Day, Saturday, March 16th, 2013
Good Afternoon,
Here is today's new piece. Honestly, I spent more time trying to 'fix' it than I did making it. I began by layering yellow batting with a red silk noil which I then topped with two layers of solid white. My plan was to just do the raw edge cut work to reveal the red fabric and perhaps the yellow batting below the white fabrics. However, I made all three cut away areas too small and when I cut the white fabric away they were simply dwarfed by the expansive white background.
So, in an attempt to "fix" the issue, I added the stitched black lines, unfortunately, they weren't enough either, so I added the black stitched swirls. Alas, once it was all added I realized that the biggest issue was the scale of the stitched design in the negative space. I was in too much of a hurry to finish so I chose to stitch the negative space in a larger scale. Well, it threw everything off. It's at least twice as large as it should be and because it's so decorative in style, it matters, a lot.
Live and learn. This is definitely not one of my fav's. In fact, I think it looks a bit "liturgical". Yuk!
Better luck tomorrow,
Till then,
Heather
1 comment:
This is an interesting piece to comment on simply because your description of the process and where you see the problems might not have occurred to me. YOU know you added elements that you didn't originally intend, but had you not mentioned it, we would not have known.
Looking at this piece as I would any other, I see differently than you do.
I like that all three swirls are quilted differently. It makes me keep looking at the detail. There is nice flow to support the eye moving around and a lot of pop to keep my interest.
I love the different layers showing through, especially that peep of batting that brings the outside in. The black border also adds some unity, bringing the inside outwards.
The black accents do make the piece look bold, but I think it suits the yellow and orange. I feel that any other color wouldn't have held it's own nearly as well.
I am trying to imagine the white background with a small stitch, and I have to say, I am sure I would have chosen to quilt a larger stitch. I would have done it to keep the white closer to the colors rather than pushing it too far back. The elements in the foreground are very definite and pronounced and so I would have guessed (and incorrectly I now know!) that the white needed bigger quilting.
The quilting is echoing the lines and swirls and so it looks like I think it should. Just goes to show you- you learn from this in one way, and we maybe learn in another.
Post a Comment