The canyons of the Southwest have long served as inspiration for my quilts. One morning, I woke up wondering what it would look like if I was at the bottom of the slot canyons watching the sun rise or set. I quick grabbed a post it on the bedside table and sketched this .... The sun rises at the bottom and is sending light over the canyon walls and the diffused light brings out the colors in the rocks.
Easy to find the rock colors in my stash of batiks, but what to do about the blue? So last Sunday, before the monsoons rolled in, I was out on the deck sun painting the blue so I could get the right variegation for the sky. I'm very happy with how that came out. There are some sparkles in there too!
My intention was to have all 16 points come together in the center (which is why I asked Rhoda about hers!), so I foundation pieced this, but no matter what I did (4 attempts and lots of frayed PFD later), I gave up and cut out the center, machine appliqueing the circle to a narrow margin (and oh I forgot to take out the freezer paper circle, so its a little crunchy there) and shifting the focal point even more. Happy accident? I'm not sure yet.
Very simple straight line quilting with monofilament to accentuate the lines It will be bound (but not til Sunday cuz I teach tomorrow).... a piped binding with a light inner piping and darker outer binding.
Comments of course are welcome. And thanks to you all for some great quilts! Y'all really pulled out the stops for this one!
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8 comments:
Thanks in advance for your comments and suggestions!
The colors in your canyon walls are beautiful. I like the circle in the middle, and how the white seems to be shining out from behind it. It seems to me a little like one of those optical illusions where you can see two different images. Sometimes the blue seems just an abstract shape on top of the colors. But then if I make my mind push it back, then I see your canyon walls with the blue sky in the distance.
I said WOW for Cynthias piece and another big WOW for yours. The colors are fantastic, the light for the sun and darker shades for the earth, wonderful. It really all came together for you and certainly is a tribute to the canyons of the Southwest.
Wendy, this is terrific. It makes me feel very small, looking up at the sky with all those colorful canyon walls surrounding me. Your depth (or should I say height) in this is really effective. The colors are wonderful and fresh. Great job.
Hi Wendy, this was an unexpected surprise from you....I thought a mandala, labryith or other spirit circle would be coming. It's good to be unpredicable though! This piece is gorgeous with your trademark color sensibility. I love the crystalline/geometric feel to it. The stylized view of looking up from the floor of a canyon could be a "canyon" of high-rise buildings, too. Great job!
Cynthia
This is gorgeous! I love the way you've captured the sun's light on the canyon walls looking up into the blue sky of the desert. A very unique perspective to show yourself looking up from the bottom of the canyon.
Wendy, this is so cool... this is one of those that if you stare at it, it comes to a life all its own. I am glad that center is a bit off.. adds to it, I would say.... Yes! happy accident. Love those colors!
Wendy, it's all been said and can't think of anything to add. Wonderful piece and I also like the off center positioning to add tension to the design.
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