Bit of a cheat this month: two journal quilts done as part of a UK Contemporary Quilt project.
The first (above) is the composition with the horizon in: called Not All Who Wander Are Lost it began with my taking the scenic route to CQ's Summer School, through a part of Northern England called the Forest of Bowland, when I came across this landscape of fields yellow with buttercups, green hedges, blue hills and blue sky. It's silk habotai overlaid in places with chiffon, all machine appliqued from the back (no fusing) and then stitched. I hand-dyed all the fabrics. Tolkein once lived in this area and used local place-names in his books.
The second piece, my August journal quilt, was finished this weeekend, and shows The Strid, a harmless-looking but lethally deep fissure in the River Wharfe in Yorkshire. Set in beautiful woods and one of my favourite places.
I started with hand-dyed silk charmeuse in pale sand-colour under the water; silk habotai in greens/browns; and rayon satin in a darker blue. Over this came multiple layers of hand-dyed silk organza - everything from vivid yellow-green through red-brown to deep violet on the rocks, which were then covered by a rust-brown piece; blues, golds and pale rust for the water, covered by plain white; and blues for the water at the top. Finally stitched with rayon threads - it needed shiny threads to glisten and throw back extra light.
I don't normally do landscape quilts so this is a new departure for me...
I like your pieces, Sandra... a lot. I really love the fabrics you work with.. they are Scrumptious!!!
ReplyDeleteTo me, silk is the most precious of all fabrics to work with. They just 'respond'...
So nice to see your work.
Sandra, you should do more landscapes, these are both beautiful. I especially like the waterfall in silks. Nice movement and texture.
ReplyDeleteHi Sandra,
ReplyDeleteThe fields piece is very Vincent Van Gogh like colors and shapes...very cool. The falls piece has wonderful textures and richness in the fabrics and threadwork. There is so much interest at the top and little at the bottom...compositionally it seems a bit top heavy. How would it look with some of that richness at the bottom?
Wonderful pieces, both of them...great job.
Cynthia
Thanks for positive comments and especially for your critique Cynthia Ann: looking at it again I'm sure you're right. I'm not sure about altering this one - have to think - but I enjoyed making it so much I am thinking about making a larger piece based on this scene and I will incorporate your suggestion in it. Many many thanks - constuctive criticism is so useful, and so hard to come by at times!
ReplyDeleteHi Sandra,
ReplyDeleteWow, 2 for one here! both of them work well with horizons. one looks like horizontal layers and the other one like high horizon.
For the field and mountain scene, I think you combined the hand dyed fabrics - silks and chiffons very well. Especially since it is reverse applique. Are the hedgerows one fabric or several layers?
On the waterfall, I like the way you layered the transparent colours to create the rocks. A very interesting idea to use transparents to give a solid look. however, it gives the rocks a very interesting luminesence.
and the transparent shadows at the top really help to define the point where the water falls over hidden rocks. It works very well.
I think the idea of more weight at the bottom is a good one. What if you added a 3D element with a bit of manipulated chiffon or organza that represented the churning up portion of the pool beneath?
Good to see someone else trying to make these ideas fit the 6"x12" CQ journals!!
Sandy
I think the diagonal line and the change of field color are enough to balance the top piece. I reall like the lines created by the hedgerows.
ReplyDeleteThe waterfall is lovely.