Thursday, September 01, 2011

Joy!

While doing some sunprinting with my granddaughters ( 3 and 6years) last weekend, we found the strangest thing in the bush near our cabin. It is a battery-operated light contained in a square block about 11" by 11" by about 2" thick. It is a bas relief of a sunflower. With my last piece of fabric we took an impression of it using wet fabric and thin paint. As the piece dried the paint settled into the grooves resulting in the background of this. The colours were so cheerful and happy that I knew it would be perfect for this challenge. I FMQ'd it with bright yellow rayon thread, but it didn't show up very well, so I added some bright green around the edge of the image. The edge is finished with satin stitch over twisted perle cotton.
Great fun, and I'm very happy with it, and have made two more ( without the grandchildren's help-lol), with a little more care and attention, that have much greater detail.
I certainly can't take credit for the design, but neither can I give credit where due, as I have no idea where the original object came from or who made it.
Pat f in Winnipeg
aka fndlmous

7 comments:

Cynthia Ann Morgan said...

Hi Pat,
Beautiful colors and patterns and it is very joyful. How serendipitous to find this object and create something new in it's image...and how clever of you!
Cynthia

Art by Rhoda Forbes said...

This experiment turned our totally awesome! Great burst of a colorful sunflower. When I enlarged it I could see the stitching very well. What if you stitched more dark circles in the center?? It is a wonderful piece, love how the edges fade to bright yellow.

fastfriday said...

What a wonderful picture. The colors have blended so perfectly. Such a lucky experiment. Of course your artists eye has a lot to do with it.

Pat Havey

fastfriday said...

I can feel the heat emanating from the sunflower. What a lovely way of interpreting the design with your thread. A stronger color thread blended into the center stitching might draw out the flower even more. Ticia

Unknown said...

Pat,

The colors of this piece are very bright and warm, which to me speaks to the essence of the sunflower. I really like the movement which was created in the fabric by the painting and drying process provided by sunprinting. I agree that adding some additional quilting in the center of the sunflower with a darker thread would draw the eye in. You might also consider adding a few beads there for some sparkle and dimension. Have you considered doing some hyper-quilting in the petals of the flower with green, orange, or pink thread to make them stand out? You could also overpaint the flower petals with a wash of one of the colors you used to make them stand off the background. I like the edge finish on this.

Louise

Pat .F in Winnipeg said...

I plan to incorporate some of your suggestions when I work on the other two painted impressions I have. I'll be posting them on my blog (fndlmous@shaw.ca )when they are done.
Pat F in Winnipeg

fastfriday said...

Pat, you have created a very cheerful piece. It is a joy to look at. I can imagine it hanging on a wall in an entryway welcoming guests to a cheery home. Great job!

Susan Armstrong