New to this, I don't know if I should write something different here than I e-mailed to the list. I find it so hard to look at the albums without comments . . . or vice versa.
I did this 10" x 12" study over a few days. I went for a realistic portrait of my little 6-year-old Cavalier King Charles Spaniel's head--something fun and fast to do for a first challenge in this rather intimidating group. I began with trapunto: two extra layers of Warm & Natural under the nose, and one extra layer under the white muzzle area and the eyes. However, I was using Wonder Under instead of appliqué (to be FAST), which made the trapunto somewhat less effective. After layering the pieces and doing some quilting, I did something new for me--I painted on the top with Jacquard Textile Paints to add some highlights, give some fur texture, and to put metallic turquoise sparkle highlights in the eyes. Once quilted, I edged the piece with satin stitching. I'm glad to have participated, learned a few things, and now have gotten my feet wet!
Some issues this raised for me (besides how I'd rather be less trite and realistic), are: whether trapunto ever works well with fusing; whether the muzzle comes forward with a few contour lines of quilting, but not so many as to flatten that whole area; and what I could add to make the black of the eyeballs shinier. Also, I wonder whether working with a photograph distorts the outcome compared to what the eye and brain might register when looking directly at the subject. For example, the photograph I worked from was not head on, so the left and right sides of her face weren't as symmetrical as they are "live," and in the finished piece, perhaps the viewer gets the impression this is a straight-on view of a very lopsided face. Also, some of the areas that appear tan are actually white fur with shadows that reflected in the photo as tan (below her mouth and her neck), and I don't think that's apparent in my finished piece. Photographing without getting edge distortion is another issue (this really is perfectly rectangular). Finally, I think this might be improved if I cropped an inch off the left, leaving a more rectangular format and leaving the left eye, etc., more to the viewer to complete.
I invite your critiques and suggestions.
Thank you!
Chris
P. S. I was sorely tempted to just post a photo of my Jellies quilt -- it fits the theme and has depth created with a little perspective, value gradations of the dark "water fabric," and layers with embellishments including beading, couching, and fuzzy yarn. And I feel pretty good about it because it was juried into Images in Lowell, Mass. However, that's not the point, right? I want to try to do FAST CHALLENGES.
My original idea just had the cow girls in poses, but then all the sudden I remembered a piece by 
