Thursday, February 01, 2007

Carrot Soup





That hardest part was thinking of a subject. I had set up the still life ages ago and took some photos. I used a crop photo to work from. I did a blue background to complement the orange carrots - if I redid it I would have used a different background. I used pastels for shadows - which would have been better had the background been lighter. Yarn for the leaf tops couched down at random. Quilting on the carrots to add some dimension.

Finished size 8 1/2 x 11.

This by far ranks as the hardest challenge - a little too realistic. I think I'd like to go back and do an abstract still life. Good to think of shading next time I would have looked at my pastels before I picked the fabric. I used only what is on hand - scraps only.

Lisa - In Sunny Seattle

7 comments:

Linda Cline said...

Your range of oranges gives this piece a lot of depth. The Yarn was a great idea for the tops. I like the orange with the blue, the shading shows up fine. The only problem I see with the blue is it's a beautiful sky color, and it's just a bit strange to see a shadow on the sky.

Roberta Ranney said...

Hi Lisa - You did a great job on the challenge of cropping your work. The quilting on the carrots bring them to life as well as the greenery. The orange against the blue really pops and adds a lot of life. Nice work.

Roberta

CalicoDaydreams said...

I love your carrots!

I love how you used a variety of orange fabrics to create them and the quilting is perfect.

I like the blue in the background. It is a sky blue but I think it complements the orange well.

The only suggestion I can think of to make your quilt better is to use more shades of green in the carrot tops. The form of the tops is great with the yarn, but like you used many oranges for the carrots, if you added some stitching with a dark green thread towards the tops and with a lighter green, or even off white thread near the base it would add so much.

But your is wonderful even if you don't change a thing! Carrots are my favorite veggie and you have done a wonderful job creating them in this quilt!

I look forward to seeing your next challenge piece.

Betty Donahue said...

Your carrots are so realistic I feel like I could take one off and start chewing on it.
Betty

brendaj said...

I think this is great. I love the blue background and the cropping is perfect. Great job.
Brenda

Cynthia Ann Morgan said...

Hi Lisa,
The complementary colors of orange and blue with the bit of green is really eye-catching. The cropping is very effective and the variety of oranges keeps it interesting. I like the idea someone had of adding more variety to the greenery...it would add interest and some value contrast in that area to add some darker and lighter in with the medium color there now.

Great job! I look forward to seeing more of your work
Cynthia

laura west kong said...

Lisa,
I love the orange-blue-lime green color scheme. It's amazing you could find so many orange fabrics, you must have a great stash! I like that the edges of the carrots are wobbly and not ruler-straight. The quilting and yarn really add the right touch. You could still add some machine quilting in other shades of green here and there (darker at the top, almost light at the bottom) to add the same lively variety to the greens as you have with the oranges. Nice cropping too!
laura k