Sunday, October 05, 2008

A Friend to the World







This is my first in a series of Native American Symbols. Right before the challenge was announced my sister came home from Arizona and gave me a book of Native American Symbols.. this was perfect timing. I paged through the book and found the owl. My time is pretty limited when it comes to my art so I thought I may have bitten off more than I could chew.. but, I finished it in 10 days. I love the color purple so I knew I wanted to use that with a complimentary color. I choose the purple/blue and the yellow/orange. I think these colors worked pretty well with this challenge. I like to raw edge applique with wonder under. All of my fabrics are cotton except the white is satin. And all of my pieces are stitched down with monofilament thread. I also like to embellish. I put a few crystals on the piece and some of that new shimmery ribbon with fusible glue on it. I always have fun with the quilting. I'm not a very good free motion quilter but, these fast friday challenges will give me a chance to improve. The quilt is 24.5 x 9.5 Laura Krasinski

THe first photo I posted looked more pink...I took this one in natural sunlight and the color is much more true. I deleted the first photo.

12 comments:

Cherie in Del Mar said...

This is very cool Laura...it has such a mystical quality to it, although it seems more like red violet than blue purple to me :) I really like it...could you tell us what the symbol means / stands for?
Cherie

Wendy said...

Laura, this is very cool.... I love owl and her wisdom, she's one of my totems!
The colors are nicely blended and there is a wonderful sense of whimsy to the face.
Can you tell us more about the pedestal? What is the symbolism?

Art by Rhoda Forbes said...

Laura this is a wonderful piece and your colors worked well to give a Southwestern feel to it.
I love your border treatment.
The bottom color looks pink on my screen, what if it would have been a bit darker shade? Just a thought to ponder.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the comments.. the bottom piece does look pinker to me than what it actually is.. I used a color wheel and chose colors that were in the blue/purple segment. I will try and take a better photo. That might help. As far as the pedestal is concerned.. That was kind of an after thought. There was a sign somewhat like it in the book. The book doesn't say anything about the symbols. But, I thought it would make a good place for the owl to perch.

Art by Rhoda Forbes said...

Ahh yes,the colors are much better, great job Laura.

Cynthia Ann Morgan said...

Hi Laura, This definitely has a primitive native feel to it...reminds me of some of the Alaskan art by natives with the graphic black and white patterns and also a bark painting. I like how the circle motif is repeated throughout...that really unifies the piece. Great colors...and the one motif in orange added a nice pop. Did you consider other edge finishes rather than the black binding? Could that be boxing it in? Or maybe I'm just wishing I could see a bit more of that cool "deckled" edge on the sides?
Great job! Look forward to seeing more of your work!
Cynthia

Anonymous said...

If I would do it over I would have faced it.. I don't like the black binding.. I had already put the back on it and started quilting when the thought of facing it came into mind. Then I could have kept the deckled edge on the sides and not the straight edge..I think you are right and that would have looked much better. Next time...

Anonymous said...

Now that I think of it I could have faced it.. I fused the binding so I might take it off and redo it.. I have only faced a quilt once so I really wasn't thinking of what I was doing.. Hmmmm I have to think on this.. but, I am pretty sure that is what I am going to do.. I think you are right Cynthia it would look much better with out the black binding... Laura

janice pd said...

Hi Laura. this is very attractive. I love the use of non-traditional colors for this native quilt, you would expect blue/green. I like the uneven edge and also think the black binding boxes it in. Great piece!

anna k. said...

Laura,
i love this owl. This is a great piece. I am so looking forward to more of your work

Roberta Ranney said...

Hi Laura - Your little quilt is so attractive. I enjoy the various symbols from different cultures and find they are wonderful in quilts - yours uses symbols beautifully. I copied the quilt into Picasa and cropped off the black border and I think it looks better without it. But it looks darn good with it!

Carole said...

Hi Laura.... coming in late, but having another good look at this piece. I really like the clean look to it. There is lots going on, but it isn't distracting, love the 'wisdom' effect that seems to be prominent in Native work ,particularly owls. I am looking forward to watching this as a series.