While I usually don't put a border on these small art quilts, I couldn't resist this rainbow batik that has been sitting in my stash for a couple of years. It just called out to go with the spirit horses. It reminds me of the Northern Lights. Your comments are always welcome.
Your colors and layout are lovely. It would be nice if there was more contrast between the horses and the background. They almost get lost on the medium grey color.
ReplyDeleteI love the colors and the transparent quality of the horses, I think it is mainly the 2nd horse from the left (orange?) that I would like to see brighter, what distracts my eye is the diagonal parallel quilting done in the borders, otherwise I like this a lot.
ReplyDeleteKathy Walker
Thank you for your comments and critiques. I always learn from them.
ReplyDeleteIn this piece the medium gray background represents a stormy night sky, when the apparitions appear following the thunder of their hoofs.
I thought about using a lighter sky, but wanted a night-time, eerie feel to it.
Hi Linda, I like the ghostly quality to the horses. Nice job with the eerie feeling. IMO the brightness of the border overpowers the subtle horses. Nice job with the central focus.
ReplyDeleteI like the way the horses seem to be running out of a storm. The batik border appears to be lightning flashing all around them. I thought all of this before reading your comments above. Perhaps a bolt of lightning on the dark sky would help depict the storm better?
ReplyDeleteI like your horses running out of the storm. You have used this method fo achieving transparency well and the low horizontal is what this piece requires. I wonder how you would like it with a narrower border, perhaps as much as half the current width.
ReplyDeleteGreat job meeting the challenge!
Hi Linda... I too like your horses...as thy are represented, perhaps because I have seen them in this setting. If the border is distracting... heavy on the 'if'... what would happen 'if' you quilted in the diagonal the other way, in other words.. a cross hatch. Might balance the 'feel'? Just a thought. Well done!
ReplyDeleteI like your ideas of a bolt of lightning, and narrowing the borders. I will play around with this some more. Thank you for your input.
ReplyDeleteCarol,your quilt and poem are wonderful and do tell the story many of us have experienced. I would with your permission like to copy both poem and quilt when you add the symbolisim indicating there is a way out...for my nephew...I cried when I read your poem very inspirational.
ReplyDeleteJanice Simpson
Linda, Your horses are mysterious and unearthly. They give a phantom like impression and I like the illusiveness of them in the colors you made them. The colors in the border enhance the piece and bring out the colors of the horses. What if you put an additional border in black so that the multicolor border was like a matte? It's very beautiful as it is, and certainly fits this challenge! Nice work!
ReplyDeleteWhat if you had switched the colors used for the background and the ground (darker black for the background, and medium grey for the ground)?
ReplyDeleteYou would still have the impression of spirit horses appearing out of a storm, and I think the quilt would benefit with the extra contrast.
Hi Linda, I love the horses...there is an innocence and fragility about them that is so appealing. I like your border fabric, but it does take the focus off the horses. If this was my piece, I would trim the border to about 1/2", zigzag around the edge, then couch some gray or black fiber on the edge. I do so love those horses!
ReplyDeleteCynthia
Hi Linda,
ReplyDeleteI really like the way the border pulls the horses out of the storm. It seems to be made for the piece!
The way you used the fabrics for the horses gives them a very ethereal quality.
I am not too sure about the comments about thinning the border, but I think maybe adding a black binding might rein in the colour and help to pull the black in the scene back into focus.
I really do like the colour for the background. It represents the storm very well.
I think, though, there is some confusion with the quilting near the legs. perhaps if it were more like the colour of the stormy background it would help. How do you think it would look if you echo quilted (not too closely) the horizon line up to about the point where the legs join the body, perhaps in a colour that blended better with the background. I think it would help to set the horses out a bit more.
And perhaps then, a bit of organic "storm" shapes quilted into the border might also pull the border and centre together more. I think it would be better than chopping the border to make it thinner.
I think you had a really good idea to do Spirit Horses. Even without knowing your poem or story, it would evoke wonderful fantasy stories for viewers!
Thanks for working so hard!
Sandy
Thank you for your comments Sandy. You have given me some good ideas, and I will rework parts of this piece.
ReplyDelete