Mushrooms by Cynthia Ann Morgan

Here's my little piece featuring mushrooms and autumn leaves. Comments and greetings welcome!

Cynthia

NEWFOUNDLAND ROSE

I took a picture of this red mushroom a few years ago while hiking in the Newfoundland Woods. I have always wanted to feature it in my art, and this was the perfect chance! Although not strictly Stylized, I feel interpreting a subject using various fibers, stitches etc.automatically qualifies it as stylized. (???)

Complimentary colors: Red/Green, using shades of brown/beige for background and stem.

The mushroom cap is constructed of a base layer of ombre satin encrusted with little crystals, overlayed with a swirley chiffon with glitter embedded. There are three layers of batting under the cap which is stitched only along the top edge to create dimension. The "ruffle" and the overlay on the stem are done using a lovely fabric consisting of two layers of very sheer organza with ecru/gold ribbons trapped between.

It measures 14"x18"

Thanks for a really fun challenge Betty! It is so great to be back to working on my 'stuff'...LOL

Comments/critiques gratefully accepted:-)

Cherie

Challenge 45: Fabulous Fungus

Challenge 45 – May 2010 Host: Betty Warner

Intro:
Fungus is fascinating whether it is in the form of mushrooms at the dining table, mushrooms in the woods, or fungi on dead tree branches found on a hike. Sometimes the edges of what we see are sharp and hard, other times, soft and fuzzy. The lack of brilliant color allows us to focus on the interesting shapes and lines. Those of us who were taught not to pick mushrooms because we did not know which would nourish us and which would poison us bring additional emotion and curiosity to the sighting of any fungus. The damp, earthy smell of the places where we find fungi contrasts with the sometimes elegant, rich, spicy aroma of the stuffed mushrooms we devour.

In addition, fungi have a role in the decomposition of organic matter and in nutrient cycling and exchange. Another fungus, yeast, is used in bread, beer, and soy sauce. Fungi has been used in the production of antibiotics. Enzymes produced from fungi have industrial uses.

In my humble opinion, fungus, though just another plant life, deserves some special attention from us.

Theme: Glorious Fungus

Concept: Abstract/Stylized

Color: Complementary or Split Complementary

Techniques: Artist choice. If you would like a suggestion, embellish or manipulate fabric to show dimension.

References:
Images of fungi:
http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/fungi/fungi.html
Or Google, images, “kingdom fungi” for some beautiful results
For more than you ever wanted to know about California Fungi, http://mykoweb.com/
While there take a look at the ‘Mushrooms in Art’ selection where you will see many listings.
Or Google, images, “fungi pictures” for some more beautiful pictures.

Abstract/Stylized Art:
Non-realistic, simplified or exaggerated
If you look in this glossary you will see a simple definition of both Abstract and Stylized. They are both separate and related concepts.
http://www.artsmia.org/world-myths/glossary.html
Here is some info on Abstract art:
http://wwar.com/masters/movements/abstract_art.html
http://www.harley.com/art/abstract-art/index.html
More on Stylized:
The Art Nouveau style has many examples of natural objects stylized for decorative purposes.
http://essentialhumanities.net/s_art_stylnat.html

Complementary or Split Complementary Color Schemes:
http://www.tigercolor.com/color-lab/color-theory/color-harmonies.htm
http://www.color-wheel-pro.com/color-schemes.html

Fungus ART links
http://www.naturalabstraction.com/fungusmed.html
http://tinyurl.com/35smokz
http://tinyurl.com/34wtks4
http://tinyurl.com/3xkt7r2
http://tinyurl.com/3ysw3lx
http://tinyurl.com/37gz3ho
http://tinyurl.com/359kryn

And some art quilts by Sue Reno http://www.suereno.com/thefungus.html

Challenge 44 - Dandelion Dance

I have to admit this was so far outside my comfort zone I almost didn't do it - that and the fact we left for a two week vacation right after this posted. So thank you for making me challenge myself.

I took a photograph of my daughter blowing a dandelion. Granted it wasn't the best picture - she's in a sprinkler - ran some photoshop stuff to soften the edges - outlined some of the areas to define the picture. I think picked shades of red - because red is her favorite color. Did fusible applique - then french knot dandelion seeds.

Over all I'm happy with the results - this isn't a close up quilt and looks better from a far. I'm debating on binding or facing so would welcome any feed back on that.

Lisa
In Sunny then rainy Seattle.

Flower Child

Flower Child

This is my favorite little girl, Morgandy. I thought I posted this yesterday so I hope this is not a repeat.

The upper fabric is silk screened; lower is the back side of a commercial fabric. Morgandy is from a photo her father took. Some body parts were not in the photo, so I painted them in. It is densely quilted. I quilted around each flower, then when it was faced and finished, added some 3 dimensional flowers made from pieces of the right side of the same fabric.

More photos are on my blog showing the whole process.

I gave this little quilt to Morgandy's Mother for a Mother's Day gift. She was\is very appreciative.

Happy Dance

18 ¼ " x 25 ¾"

I've renamed this from Flower Child Dance!

My only problem with including people is drawing them, so I cut out some folded paper kids, scanned them into Photoshop and then did some tricks to change their sizes. The printout from that became my template for the children. I arranged them on a batik background and chose some flowers from various fabric scraps to surround the scene.

The border is a flowery tulle, backed by cotton fabric, which I gathered slightly, then sewed the outer pieces on. The last step was mounting it on foam core and pulling the edges around to the back. I hand-sewed the border onto the foam core using some seed beads on the front.

A bit late, but at least finished well before the May challenge! Comments are welcome.

Also finished something for the Under the Sea Challenge 43. I've been taking a painting on fabric class at Quilt University which has been really fun. I painted some fish which came out really nice - a trout and a salmon. Then I stitched them to add dimension. Shown is the salmon and the trout.

Just finished Challenge 42 - I'm just a bit behind! I was also doing this for a challenge in an art group I'm in here in Maine. We had to use something from the hardware store.

The manipulated part is in the landscape. I pleated the fields - they're hard to see in the photo because my hardware item is screening. My intent was looking through the keyhole/screen door. A friend has some old keys so I will also be sewing on some of those as embellishments.

Flower Child - 10" x 10 3/4"

A bit late getting this one done and posted, but here we are. This piece, "Flower Child", was fun to do once I decided what to do. It was not my first idea - the first and second ideas were too complex to finish in a busy week, even as a study. I like the colors and the face of the woman in this.

The fabric for the face was created by dyeing white fabric using Sharpie Markers and Alcohol. The outline and features of the face are from a book which allows me to use them, just want to be clear that you know the face is not my original design. The flowers are Lutrador with a thin coat of Gesso applied before running it through the printer. The flowers are attached in the center only. The dimension is implied by some of the pieces of hair falling over each other and the placement of the flowers.

I'm done with this for now, but may pull it out again. My daughter was here and declared she wouldn't mind having it 'in a frame, with lots of beads and perhaps an earring'. Perhaps that will happen.

As always comments about how to improve are very welcome.

Betty Warner

Flower Child Mary Jane

This challenge was outside my comfort zone so......I made it fit!!! I live in rural northern California. Our biggest CASH crop is possibly illegal(?). There is a very large population of aging flower children and some of the newer kinds. The baby is called Mary Jane but the caption could also be....."WHERE'D YA LEAVE THE BABY?"

I think it speaks for its self. Methods used were fusing and machine quilting on hand dyed fabric. It was fun.

I do remember the Gumnut Babies from Australia. They were very cute and clever.

Carol