As part of the fracturing, I included prints, solids, textures, cottons, and silks. Don't know whether I understood what a fracture really is, but I grouped the shapes by hues so that there would be an overall fracture, too.
I wasn’t thrilled with making a bird, bug, plane, or even the wing of a building--and I never thought of wingnuts--so I chose to do an angel, then focused in on just a portion of a wing, part of my new attraction to getting up close (developed from our microbiology challenge). And since I haven't seen an angel, I gave myself license to play with how the wing might reflect many colors of light.
I fused the shapes and used mostly blanket stitch machine appliqué and free motion quilting. If I had longer, I might have quilted more, using lots of different threads and stitches. I quickly satin stitched the outer edges (Sue Benner style), but then cropped to the size it will be when or if I get around to finishing it with facings. Maybe I should crop off to eliminate all of the shaded pink, which represented the "shoulder" of the angel on the left.
I'm trying to transition from realistic to abstract images, so I consider this sort of transitional. It's fine with me if you don't know what you're looking at!
By the way, a seraph is an angelic being of the highest order, associated with light, ardor, and purity. Mentioned only in the Book of Isaiah, the seraphim were in human form with six wings each, and they revealed Isaiah’s call to ministry. An angel-artist-coach is helping me figure out my goals, so this has some special meaning to me.
Comments, critique, or suggestions are always welcome.
Chris Smith in Sea Ranch, CA
www.ReapAsYouSew.com
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7 comments:
Nice transitional piece for you! I like the arch of the wing that goes up and brings you back down to the angelic feathers. Your quilting is lovely and fits each area. The swirls in the blue seem to represent the winds of heaven/time. As to your pink shoulder... I didn't notice it until you pointed it out because of the the feather in the lower right being the same color. But then I did start to focus on it. Perhaps it should have been a blue more the color of the wing arch? I really like what you've achieved with this piece.
Your seraph is a zinger! It's a great transitional piece moving from realism to more abstract.
Your seraph is a zinger! It's a great transitional piece moving from realism to more abstract.
Chris, I've never seen an angel either, but I love what you have done in your imagination. I wouldn't crop this composition as it holds together quite well as it is. It very vibrant and appealing and a nice blend of the real and the abstract! BTW I love your website name!
I agree that the composition works really well. If any piece niggles you, you could try putting some tulle over it, or mess with it in photoshop to see if you prefer it painted slightly different colour. But it looks fine to me. I like the movement, and the colour choice is suprising in a good way. Lovely stitching as well.
I like this piece. Your color choices give it a lot of life, and it definitely looks like an angel wing. I don't think I would crop this at all, but if you could, at this late point in the process, extend that shoulder a bit higher, you might like it better.
Love the colors. It is a beautiful piece. Any angel would be very happy to have this for a wing.
Betty
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