Sunday, February 09, 2014

Cityscape: A Study in Blue

51" x 61" 
Commercial cotton, silk and polyester fabrics and threads


This piece has been on my drawing board since last fall: the pattern was drafted, the blue fabric palette had been auditioned, and the quilting design was determined.  All that was lacking was the time and motivation to begin.  Thanks to this timely challenge, I have not only started the piece, but finished it too (albeit a week late in the posting).

I have toyed with the idea of a series of cityscapes since last summer, and have drawn inspiration from many quilts and quilt artists on the Internet, our own Fast Friday contributor Meena Schaldenbrand's "I Love Detroit" http://fastfridayquilts.blogspot.com/2013/09/i-love-detroit.html, and the many incredible art quilts created by Ludmila Aristovta http://ludmilaaristova.squarespace.com/.  

This imaginary cityscape serves as a practice piece to sort out a few techniques for my future cityscapes including selection of appropriate fabrics for building surfaces, the quilting of water, working with reflections in water,  and getting proportions right for a realistic look.  While admittedly, this work is not even in the same class as one of Ludmila Aristovta's works of art, I certainly aspire to her level of artistry and look forward to creating more cityscapes that reflect many of the great cities that we all know and love.  This is my first step in the process and I thank you for allowing me to share it with you.

Your comments, suggestions and critiques are welcomed.

Warmest regards,


Cheryl Casker

4 comments:

Tobi said...

Your work is big, especially for a Fast Friday piece! I like the reflections you put in, foreshortened and with the quilting suggesting the ripples in the water.

Anne Sonner said...

The muted blues and all the lines work well for the water and buildings.

ann said...

I thought Detroit when I saw it. Even though the 'buildings' are fictitious, I think the water got me.

fastfriday said...

It reminds me of Detroit too. . .probably for two reasons. One, I am a native of Detroit (born and raised) and I put the squat building in front of all the other building, right on the water in homage to Ford Auditorium. While I never really admired the architecture of that building, it had great acoustics!

Thanks for all of the critiques and comments.

Cheryl