Thursday, September 30, 2010

Colorado Sky







I had never heard of Chiaroscure before so I hope this is the right idea. I used a friend's photograph (with his permission, his Flickr name is Carfull53) as my guide. I'm adding his photo here as well.






I used reverse applique for the yellow/red part of the sky and the mountains in the foreground are black velvet that I went over with my embellisher hoping to give it some texture.

12 comments:

Carole said...

Hi Betty... what a delightful piece... I am wondering if you added, say some angelina fiber to the glow in the cloud formaton if it might 'pop' a little more... like your photo? Just a thought...

There is always something about a sky that is lit like that!

Kathy said...

I think you are very brave to try and interpret a great sky like that one! What effect do you think it would give if you made the entire bottom part all in the black? My eye seems to want to see that whole section in the darkest dark color. The sky is so hard to do...but how about adding some "streaks" of different blues to what you have, since the photo has so many shades of blue?

Betty Donahue said...

Mmmmmmmmm

Something did seem to be missing.
Both of your ideas sound good.
I'll have to see what I can do.
Betty

fastfriday said...

Perhaps a little smaller less dense stand of trees would help. They seem to be too large for the sky around them. Have fun playing,I;m sure whatever you do will be right.

Pat Havey

Linda Mac said...

The Colorado skies are magnificent, and I am glad you captured this one. What if it wasn't closed in with a border? Using just the center piece, with a facing, would make the sky go on forever. To me, the border constrains it, even though you continued the blue color.

Anonymous said...

What a lovely sky. I think the yellow fabric captures the glow against the blue sky very effectively. I agree that the base (ground) would be more "grounded" if it was as dark or darker than the trees. Sometimes a couple layers of dark tulle over the existing fabric will do the trick. You could also do this in the sky to get more shades from the same fabric.

I also agree that it would be a stronger piece without the border. The border seems to close it in and I would like to see it opened up, like the Colorado sky it is. So maybe just a facing? You can preview it in Photoshop, which is what I did.

Wendy said...

Me too on the border comments... there is so much you can do with skies..... adding the angelina, more quilting to show the lines in the clouds? You've got a great start here!

LAQuilts said...

I like the sky - it's very pretty - a little glow right near the land form or the ground would perfect this piece.

Cynthia Ann Morgan said...

Hi Betty, good to have you in the group yet another year! What I like about this piece is the use of color..dramatic and good contrasts. I think the stand of trees could be smaller so the sky looks huge like the photo and there could be more streaks of light and variety of value/color in the sky. Would you consider cropping it? It could make an interesting piece to crop off the right where the trees start and crop off the bottom in the middle of the trees and rebind or face those 2 sides.
Cynthia

Betty Donahue said...

Y'all had some good points. I couldn't bring myself to take the first one apart so yesterday I made a new one without borders.
It is 20" x 13".

I must admit, both my husband and I like the new one better.

Betty

Pam Harris said...

WOW!! What a dramatic differece from the original. The sky is more interesting with the two shades of blue and the more angular red/orange/yellow streaking. The black skyline doesn't detract from your sky. Good job and thanks for posting an updated version.

Cynthia Ann Morgan said...

Betty...Your do-over piece is so expansive and really portrays the majesty of the sky. Great job!
Cynthia