Monday, March 02, 2009

River in Autumn

18" x 20¾"
My color selection here is blue, red-orange and yellow-orange. After a false start using green with my two orange colors, I kept those and pulled in the blues which I used as a river for the S curve. The striped cloth for the background pulls it away from realistic, but the colors were right, and it felt okay. I had a couple pieces of cloth with autumn leaves that fit in, as well as some with orange-y ferns and leaves, and one with flowers. Then there were two pieces that were actually different colorways, one in pale oranges which became a sandy verge to the stream, and the other with a high contrast which ended up as the tree trunk.

To mount the piece, I made a bias strip of deeper red-orange fabric for the border, sewed it on, and stretched it tight over a piece of foam core. I may need to trim the foam core just a bit, especially at the bottom, to make it more even. The final step involves hand-sewing for the border, and maybe here and there around the pieces to help make the elements pop a bit more, but aside for that, it's done! Comments are welcome, as well as any suggestions for a better name for the piece.

7 comments:

janice pd said...

Hi Toby, nice interpretation of the challenge. You nailed it for sure.

Janice

Roberta Ranney said...

Hi Tobi - Lovely use of color - the piece definitely speaks of autumn. The river's descent makes it seem somewhat like a water fall so I would be tempted to name it something like "Autumn Falls".

Carole said...

No wonder fall is my favorite season... I can picture the scene in my mind, smell the drying leaves.... well done.
Just on 'what if?'... you added more of the leaves you have on the left closer to and maybe encroaching a bit on the river...making the stream more focal, since there seems to be nothing between the water and the leaves? Just a thought...
Carole

Joni said...

Hi Tobi,
Your autumn scene is very colorful, and the eye seems to continue to dwell in the center of the piece. A very peaceful place. You have use a very interesting variety of scale quite effectively in this composition too.

Betty Warner said...

When I look at this piece, my eye rests a moment on the water, then moves around counterclockwise starting with the group of leaves in the lower left. I like the irregular shape and think the use of such variety of scale was brave and effective.

LAQuilts said...

This is a wonderful color combination - it really does work - I'm not sure if this is intentional or not but there looks like one orange the true compliment - I'm sure it has more to do with computer monitors than intentional on your part.

Cynthia Ann Morgan said...

Hi Tobi, The brilliant blue stream goes so beautifully with the golds and orangy reds. I really like how the shape of the piece captures the view of this colorful fantastical world.
Good job!
Cynthia