A day or two after this challenge was issued, I happened to be riding through the mountains on a rainy day. The sky was gray, the trees and the hills on the whole were still mostly green but now and again I saw the bright red of vines that creep up the trees and add a burst of color. I thought :"This is it! This is a complementary color scheme with some neutrals." I did not have a camera at the time but tried to keep these images in my head as I made this quilt. I cut all the pieces freehand and pinned them down, moving things around adding and subtracting until it had the look I wanted. The vines are done with needle lace (embroidery done off the surface and then attached). This let me avoid the pitfalls of heavy thread work on a quilted surface.
I would call the composition predominately vertical because of the trees but it definitely has horizontal and even diagonal elements. I guess nature does not go strictly by one set of rules. The size of this quilts is 22" x 14". I welcome your comments and/or critiques.
Detail showing one of the vines
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11 comments:
I want to walk down this road...it draws me right in! Your vines are wonderful. What a great idea to do it in needle lace! Very nice :)
Cherie
This so reminds me of a trip to Alaska.... nice blending of colors. The whole piece has such a sense of calm!
I love this.
Betty
Very nice Susan. The red vine does draw one into the forest.
Would you say your complimentary color scheme is red/green?
Yes, Rhoda, I would call this a green-red complementary color scheme. It had the addition of neutrals, mainly gray, with a little warm brown thrown in. The green predominates, the red is brighter so less is needed to balance the green.
Thanks to everyone who has commented so far. I appreciate you feedback.
I like the complementary colors of the red/green - I don't usually like them together, but yours look very nice. Had you thought about a bit of red somewhere else among the trees? My eye is drawn to that one tree and it seems like something else is needed to make you go around the whole piece. I do like the diagonal at the bottom which brings me in as a viewer and the vertical trees.
Kathy
Oops! disregard last comment about red somewhere else. I was only looking at the detail shot and not the whole thing. Sorry about that! I'll know better next time to scroll further. The other bit of red helps a lot.
Kathy
Hi Susan, this is really rich looking with the variety of greens and grays and browns...lots of texture. The foreground with the vertical trees and the background with the horizon is a wonderful contrast. Great job!
Cynthia
Susan, i love your red vines; they add so much to the piece.
I also like the fabric that you used for the sky...the leaf-like fabric adding to the feel of Autumn in this piece.
Great composition; with the feeling of Autumn and the road pulling us along the path.
Hi Susan - What a peaceful landscape you've created. Your fabric choices help give the piece a lot of depth and dimension. My work is so not subtle that I greatly appreciate work that is. You have done a fine job using complementary colors without the jarring sensation they can easily create. Beautiful!
Hi Susan, I'm with Roberta, a peaceful piece. I have been impressed, and am again, with the use of red and green without it looking like Christmas. I like the creeper vine, that is particularly effective. Here [in British Columbia, and particularly on the West Coast] we have a lot of climbing ivy,its on trees, telephone poles, walls, wherever it can get a toehold, and it turns such a marvellous red.
Vwery nice and well done.
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