Friday, October 02, 2009

Fires of Arnica by Jeanne Knudsen


I live just 50 miles away from Yellowstone National Forest and last week as the "Arnica" fires raged to over 9000acres the air and sky outside became smokey. This is from a photo I took outside our front door. It was mid day, but the sun was red/orange. I used felt I melted for the tree branches, silk leaves, and put a brown tinted tulle over the piece and then quilted it. Not exactly "outer space" but it is my space looking out. I encourage critique!

6 comments:

Gerrie said...

One thing I have learned in my art journey is to never center anything! I think I would like this better if the sun was in the sweet spot which for this piece could be even off the piece a bit so you do not see the whole sun and then have the branch coming across the piece in more of an angle.

I love the branch and leaves. The quilting is great.

Suzanne Sanger said...

I love this concept of an earth-based look at the sky, but like Gerrie, I'd like to see it cropped differently. It's a strong piece but too much sky is distracting and puts the emphasis where it interferes with the concept.

Kathy Angel Lee said...

I do agree with the above comments about cropping. Maybe you could use some wide strips and hold them at different places on the piece to see what the cropping would look like. My watercolor teacher does this all the time with class projects. It's amazing what a difference the cropping makes. I really like the branch and the quilting and your view from "your space."

Cherie in Del Mar said...

Hi Jeanne
I certainly think you've met the 'outer space' part of the challenge. The sun is afterall in space :-) I really like the melted felt branch. Was this a new technique to you? I have never tried melting felt, but will give it a try. Your quilting is very nice.
Cherie

Cynthia Ann Morgan said...

Hi Jeanne, Your branch and sun are wonderful...great textures. I agree with the cropping suggestion...I would take off it off the top or the left. It might be fun to slice it off sort of curvy or jagged and burn that edge as the finish.
Did you consider another background color? a tint of the complementary color of the sun color could be very striking....like a lavendar. Some whispy curls of smoke done with a dark thread could be cool, too.
Glad you participated in the challenge, I'll look forward to seeing lots more of your work
Cynthia

Roberta Ranney said...

Hi Jeanne - You are off to a great start. When I see a work like this and then read the excellent suggestions for making it even better then, once again I'm happy to be part of Fast Friday. One of the early challenges we had was on cropping and it is probably the very best lesson I learned. Keep up the great work.