I'm back in the swing of things. I loved the idea of this challenge and have been working a lot with light and shadow."Total Eclipse" is a whole cloth piece. I masked out the lower circle with freezer paper and then used luminescent paint and dry brushed the flares in white and copper. If you enlarge the picture, you'll see that its quiled in flame stitch at the top and concentric circles inside the "sun."
Simple. Dramatic.
And for 2 of my recent pieces that use the same concept:
"New Growth" is using Colleen Wise's Emerald City pattern. All fabrics are my hand dyes.
And my current favorite, the Labyrinth of St. Omar. This one took months and I'm so happy with it. It will be featured in American Quilter (probably early 2011) with my other labyrinth quilts. Again, all my hand dyed fabric. This was built from a graph paper model, and starting at the center, each row was individually cut, pieced and attached.
Great topic, Cynthia! Thanks for keeping us all rolling along! Comments, of course, are welcome!
Love the use of light in your "New Growth" and "Labyrinth" quilts.
ReplyDeleteI am unable to see the quilting on "Total Eclipse" even when I enlarge it. On my computer the contrast is quite stark.
I wonder how a varigated thread would look, especially next to the flares? Perhaps it would help pick up and reflect the light. Or a thread a little lighter than the background fabric used in the forground circle.
Just my thoughts, based on how it looks on my computer. I am sure the original piece shows the quilting. LindaMac
Hi there Wendy, good to have you back showing your work to us. This piece is really gorgeous with the brilliant lights behind the dark sun. The way you tapered the brightness on the painted light rays is perfect. I'm wondering what a more variegated background would look like or perhaps a dark gray or brown thread for qulting instead of the black. It probably wouldn't be as dramatic though, so I don't know if that would be better or just different! Also, it's tightly cropped on the width and quite a bit of extra background on the height...I'm wondering if cropping the extra by half would create better balance?
ReplyDeleteWonderful piece and I love your other light-filled works, too
Cynthia
Wendy---I love the eclipse but I cannot see the quilting at all. Would going over the quilting with paint help us to see it? If you are doing nice quilting it should show.
ReplyDeleteI do appreciate all the comments on the quilting.... I did audtion two dark variegated threads, plus a grey and none of them seemed to work, they detracted from the overall effect. So I stuck with black.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry you can't see the quilting, it comes up on my monitor if I click on the pic to enlarge it.... but all monitors are different in terms of contrast and detail.....
Thanks again!
Wendy, I absolutely love Total Eclipse. I like Cynthia's suggestion of cropping some of the top height OR possible extending the rays off the edge on the right. But you are completely right with simple and dramatic. It's very well done.
ReplyDeleteNothing looks the same on the computer screen as it does in person. I love the contrast and think you have done a great job. I wouldn't change anything.
ReplyDeletePat Havey
Wendy... so good to see your work again.. all 3 of them. Re.. the Eclipse, I like it... a big black night and just the rays..great.
ReplyDeleteAs I do a close-up I need to ask... did you do this on wool? It looks as tho' it could be... I like your quilting, too.
Carole... its black Kona cotton.... but wool would have been a better idea!
ReplyDeleteYour flares are fantastic. This appears to be a need to see in person quilt. It follows the challenge very well for light and dark.
ReplyDeleteVery striking and I wouldn't change a thing.
ReplyDelete