Saturday, January 09, 2010

Challenge 40 - Ode to the Raisin Box by Robin M. Robboy

REVISED :

BEFORE CRITIQUE:

This was a fun challenge; my first with this group. I really enjoyed creating this piece and the way the challenge parameters called me out of my comfortable little box. It got my creative juices flowing again!

For this challenge, I began with the raisin box. This color scheme is a little of a stretch for me as I usually prefer hotter, more vibrant colors over the richer, warmer colors in the raisin box. I didn't have a plant handy and it's snowing, so I made a still life of lemons and limes on a two tiered cake stand. After photographing the still life, I manipulated the photo in Photoshop using a variety of filters. My aim was to make the image very abstract and make the color range simpler. Once I had an image I liked, I turned to my stash of decorated papers to test my ideas about the composition of this piece.

I am pleased with the finished piece - I love the way the squarish shapes turned out. I wish I had paid some attention to quilting the background BEFORE I did the heavy stitching over the edges of the shapes. I'm reluctant to add it now for fear of ruining the piece. What do you think? I would love to read your comments.

Thanks to some very helpful critiques, I added the yellow background quilting - see image at top. It really works for me. Thanks everyone!

6 comments:

Sandy said...

The colours are good.

I think you could still quilt it. I do things that way round. perhaps you could quilt round grape size ovals or small raisin shape bits. That way it would add a "plant" and refer to the inspiration?

another idea might be to do suns , adding the yellow from the packet.

Sandy in the UK

janice pd said...

I like what you have done so far. I would like to see more of the yellow from the box for a spark. It's hard to keep going when you fear you might ruin a piece. I've always liked mine better when I've taken a piece to the next level.

Joni said...

This is a great little piece, and I really like what you have done so far. I agree with the others that a spark of yellow would add to this piece, perhaps by quilting with yellow thread. Take some tracing paper and put it over your piece and draw lines where you want to quilt- that way you get a peek at the finished work before you start quilting. Glad you joined us for this one.

Art by Rhoda Forbes said...

Very nice abstract piece. I too would like to see some yellow.
Good job on the challenge.

Pam Harris said...

The yellow quilting was a great addition as it makes the lemons and limes pop and adds additional interest to the piece. Nice job on your quilting.

Carole said...

Oh, the quilting really changes this piece!!
Very good!