Monday, February 05, 2007

Maters & Peppers













The first image is the posterized digital pic of my piece. The finished work is the other one. All comments appreciated. Sorry about the earlier problem - it seems that the problem may be with my other ISP.

Finished and only a day late. Maters & Peppers measures 10.5x7'5" and is raw edge fabric under a layer of illusion with minimal quilting (outlines of fruit and indentations in the peppers).

This was actually my second attempt at this piece. The original version had some design flaws and wasn't working well, so at noon yesterday, I decided to make another complete version. I'll keep the other one to use as a "what not to do" reference for the future.

The vines on my piece are heavy twine. The shadows are fused chiffon, which allowed the woodgrain table to show through. It's 1/2" shorter than I planned due to an ironing mishap (Note to self: irons and illusion do NOT mix). The entire piece was pillowcased and turned so that binding would not be needed. It will probably go in a frame under glass similar to Rhonda's coffee cup.

This was definitely a shift in style for me, and a challenge to complete.

7 comments:

Linda Cline said...

You have done a wonderful job on your quilt. I don't think it is any worse with the half inch that is missing. I wouldn't have even guessed it was missing if you hadn't told us.

The only suggestion I have is that the stems and vine look a bit brown. The original photo shows the stems and vine similar in color to the green pepper. What if you had cut the vine out of fabric that was similar to the pepper color instead of using yarn?

Great work.

Marlene said...

Marilyn,

Did you notice that yours is unusual in that the light source is coming from the left? It seems so many are from the right. I like your interpretation of the shadows and would like to see it carried into the stems, even though it is such a small area to work with. You seem to have the knack!

Marlene

Cynthia Ann Morgan said...

Hi Marilyn,
great job on the shadows and shaping of the maters and peppers! Shadows on the table are very effective, too...did you paint that or is it another colorway of the same fabric as the table fabric?

I too would like to see a bit more color and variation in the stems and vine.

I think you did a great job on the cropping, too and I like that you faced the edge instead of binding it.

I look forward to seeing more of your work
Cynthia

brendaj said...

Great job. I really love the texture on the peppers. In the spirit of "cropping", it might have been interesting to crop more off the bottom of the 'maters. Love this one!
Brenda

laura west kong said...

I love the fabric combinations. They make it look so fun and lively. You've captured their form so well, and with even fewer gradations than the Photoshop version. Great job!! The only thing I would suggest adding would be the very small white highlights on the veggies and darkening the innermost part of the shadows. (You can see two distinct values on the shadows) Including even a small amount of the very lightest and darkest range of value (white or nearly white and black or nearly black) really makes artwork pop!

laura west kong said...

Marilyn,
I forgot to ask: You covered it with illusion, why? Was it to help tame the raw edges and minimal quilting, or for something completely different which eludes me? The reason I ask is I have a bunch of illusion left over from a costume and am wondering about different ways to use it.
laura

MRose said...

When I started hunting for appropriate fabric in my stash, I realized that I did not have the 5 gradations that the Photoshop version would have required. So I re-posterized the pic with only 3 gradations for each veggie and then proceeded with construction.

The white highlights were simply forgotten in my rush to complete the piece. The secondary, very dark part of the shadows was overlooked and would be there if I do a larger version of this piece.

As for the illusion, I would have used tulle if I had some on hand. Since I didn't fuse all the veggies, and the edges are not stitched down, they are totally raw edge - that's why I covered them with illusion, to hold them in place. The minimal quilting was added to again, hold everything in position and add just a bit of dimension in this very small work.

Remember: do not put a hot iron near illusion - it melts.