Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Inner Spirit


Continuing with my “spirit” series, this month challenge entry is called “Inner Spirit”. I took a little liberty with the color theme, using a rather bright rust pretending it was neutral, and the background is actually grey not blue as the photo indicates. Starting with a sketch I attempted to show depth by using layers and decreasing shapes. The yellow veins are the only non-muted colors in the piece and I feel they give the piece a little more life that way. I will probably add some beading to this at a later date, but am not sure quite what to do right now. This was an excellent challenge and I enjoy using the neutral tones in my work. Comments and suggestions are greatly appreciated.




Sketch I started with.

8 comments:

Jan said...

Great piece with lots of movement that makes the eye move around the piece and back to the beginning. I think the colors your chose are muted and neutral and makes for a wonderful piece. The quilting really makes it come alive. How did you finish the edges?

Joni said...

Jan, thanks for your comments. I finished the edges of the "rings" with some decorative embroidery stitches, which give the raw edges a more finished look.

janice pd said...

Joni, I like the organic feel to this and the way your quilting draws the eye to the center. Nice use of your background to show depth.

Art by Rhoda Forbes said...

Joni, very nice indeed! Like Janice said it does draw your eye into the center. It's so great to see your sketch too. Great work.

Wendy said...

I like the flow, Joni. And I'm glad you didn't stick to just neutrals... editorial decisions are often the best! I like the depth and the feelings it evokes.

Carole said...

Very interesting... and the color scheme is very pleasing. I like the yellow 'spark' you gave the piece....
Thank you for including the sketch. For those of us who hesitate to use/show the sketch, there is a definite advantage.

Cynthia Ann Morgan said...

Hi Joni, great piece, beautifully executed from a cool sketch. It has alot of color in it...and maybe the blue came out of the gray because it's next to it's complement, orange. Really good example of using the challenge as a starting point then your instincts take over and let the piece speak to you. Overall, it's not really neutral, but it has some neutrals within it and you took it to a new and interesting color direction. It's a gorgeous piece.
Cynthia

Cherie in Del Mar said...

Your color selections sing! I also love your original sketch and would love to see you interpret it in different textures of the gray tones. Beautiful!!!
Cherie