Art Every Day, Sunday, April 21
Good Evening,
I actually made this earlier today but got so busy with other things that I just realized that I hadn't put it up on the blog yet. I just got back from hearing Renee Marie, a chanteuse, sing at Dazzle. I really enjoyed her performance and she reminded me about what it is to follow your own voice, sing your own songs, make your own stories and dance your own dance. I'm so happy that my new digs are just around the corner from Dazzle. It's one of my favorite places and I love hearing live music as often as possible.
Here is today's installation. I made it with the intent of confusing the viewer with false depth, pushing the eye forward and backward awkwardly with color and quilting density. As usual everything is layered and here is the physical order of things; farthest behind is the orange batting, topped with the blue on the right hand side, topped with the long, vertical strip of orange then the blue on the left hand side. Then the two long yellow orange strips that intersect on the lower left hand side came next. Next I sat down the large orange square on the upper left and the small orange square on the lower right. I topped the large orange square with the yellow orange strip and topped it with the blue strip.
Because of the warm (orange)/cool (blue) opposition, all of the blue should be trying to recede and all of the orange should be trying to come forward. But, I quilted it with different things in mind. I added the circles in a lighter blue thread to the blue on the right hand side in an attempt to pull it forward in front of the other blue sections. The heavy quilting should be pushing it back but the contrast in thread color, even though it is slight, is making that area catch the viewers eye which in turn pulls it forward. I did the same thing with both of the orange squares, quilting them with slightly darker threads so that the quilting in them would catch the eye also and the blue on the left hand side is quilted really heavily with a tiny stipple but you don't even see it because the thread matches so well,
My point here is; QUILTING MATTERS. In fact, in most cases it will trump color. Sometimes I feel like a mad scientist out there trying to prove my hypothesis. What fun!
Till tomorrow,
Heather
P.S.
Today I bought a refrigerator, washer & dryer and vintage windows all for my new studio - things are progressing........
1 comment:
Sorry, I see that I am behind! Stupid migraine!
This indeed does show that quilting matters. And thread color matters. And quilting design matters.
The right hand rectangle is most definitely closer to me, and though I think it has a lot to do with the lighter thread, I think it also has to do with the bubble pattern. It looks like water breaking the surface which I naturally expect to be coming towards me. Very cool illusion in every way!
I like how the petals really emphasize the lighter bits in that piece of orange fabric- and that the fabric also makes the petals look more dimensional.
I like how this has a lot of variety yet nothing is completely different and so it all flows together well. The circles, the echoed petals (?), and the curved and wavy lines all in the "not straight" category and go along with the dabs of darker color on the orange batting. Then the straight lines echo the squares and rectangles. There is repetition but with variation.
Nice texture with the quilting, some jagged edges on the orange strip, and both the striped strips and the batting.
This also has great movement within every piece that makes up the whole, but the placement of the orange and the border of batting really moves the eye around and there is plenty of blue to rest the eye on.
All in all, lots to keep us looking and oohing and aahing at.
I cannot wait to see this new space- the photo you sent in the email newsletter left me drooling! No wonder you are so excited. And if I didn't know that the washer & dryer were for your dyed lusciousness, I wouldn't be too thrilled about that- but I am!!!
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