The idea of making anything abstract scares the dickens out of me (what is a "dickens" anyway?) As I went back through my photos of vegetation, I decided to take a liberal interpretation of the garden concept and opted to work with a photo I took a few months ago of three cottonwood trees sculpted by beavers.I worked in Photo Shop to posterize, intensify, saturate and otherwise manipulate the image that I then printed out on cotton. The tree photo has batting under it and that is then quilted onto an upholstery fabric sample as background. The extra "leaves" to the sides of the photo are scraps of green fabric under tulle. The extended tree trunks are crumpled black fabric that has been dry brushed with blue Lumiere paint. The photo has an inner frame of couched yarns. The binding is an earth tone dupioni silk. I expected the end result to be less identifiable than it is. I am not sure I have really abstracted the image or if I have just
manipulated it to a different form.
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10 comments:
Kathy,
I like how you interpreted this challenge, you are quite accomplished with your photo editing. I think you blended the photo into your fabric in a wonderful way, with the tree bark just flowing from photo to fabric. The little leaves on the background match the photo perfectly. Great job! Joni
Kathy, you did a wonderful blending job...it flows almost seamlessly from photo to fabric.
I have to confess , I chuckle every time I look at your pictures...they make me think of what my knees looked like after my bilateral replacements last year...LOL
I love it
Cherie
Hi Kathy, I think the color manipulation and the textural feel of the tree trunk is very effective. And some good contrast of colors and textures. As far as abstraction though....it's pretty realistic. Now, if you sliced it up switched the pieces around and put it back together ...it probably would be an interesting abstract!
Cynthia
Kathy, this is a very innovative piece of work. The colors make it jump out. I agree with Cynthia that is realistic, but still a gorgeous piece of work.
Kathy, I am still laughing at the 'knees' comment.....
What an interesting challenge on your part and successfull, too!
As you probably know, I used a fair amount of silk..dupioni, how did you find it to bind with?
I did a similar tree trunk [ an old cedar] on my 2007 JQ that is on my blog. Did you used twin needles? I did.
Thank you so much for sharing..
Thank you to everyone who left comments!
Carole - dupioni silk as a binding material was interesting. I did not decide to use it because it was dupioni but in spite of that fact. I wasn't even going to attempt mitered corners so they are square which made it easier. I also opted to double the binding so I didn't have to turn raw edges and I handled it as little as possible. It was fine with those steps. I did not use a double needle - not an option with my Juki!
Thank you Kathy, I agree and can see that doubling the silk would control that pesky ravelling!!
Good job WITHOUT the double needle....
we do what we have to don't we.
Kathy, this is a very striking piece. I do like the variety of different fabrics you have used within this piece.
When i saw your piece in the gallery i just had to have a closer look.
Anna
Kathy,
I am impressed by the many techniques you used so well.
The couching, confetti leaves and Photoshop and painting could each stand alone.
I keep taking a closer look...
The photograph is perfect for the abstract piece. It's not what one would expect of tree. The photo and the background work well together.
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