Friday, December 03, 2010

Garden Globes

I have to admit that this was a difficult challenge for me as I have not done an abstract piece per se, even though I have been quilting for a number of years. I have seen a lot of abstract pieces which I have coveted, and have contemplated playing with the style, but had not followed through. I am not really in love with this piece, but I will definitely play with this concept in the future. Thanks for pushing me outside of my box.

That being said, I decided to use circles as my shape, and fit it into my self selected theme of botanicals. I used some of my photos and some from the Morgue Files and played with them in PSE 9. I applied a free action (which I downloaded from the web), called Crystal Ball to each of the photos and then printed them onto fused fabric treated with Digital Grounds. I then fused and cut out organza and the black and white circles. I quilted the background with circle motifs prior to placing the fused pieces on top (after several attempts to find a suitable placement). I used gel pens to add some bling to the flower globes and then stitched everything down. I then did some bobbin work (my first time) on the globes using some Razzle Dazzle from Superior Threads. I thought about adding some beadwork or paintsticks on the background circles. Any and all suggestions are welcome.

13 comments:

Cherie in Del Mar said...

Oh wow Louise...this is absolutely gorgeous! The spherical dimension you have created is awesome! I will certainly look up that link.
I love the placement as the eye is carried as if floating on a bubble throughout the quilt. Nice work!
Cherie

Nancy Schlegel said...

Very, very cool. I wouldn't change a thing. You used some interesting techniques but best of your design works perfectly with the inclusion of the black and white circles and the circle quilting.

Nancy Schlegel

Unknown said...

Nancy and Cherie,

Thank you for taking the time to critique this piece. It has been a challenge, but I got it done under the deadline and am happy about that! Now onto my next portrait quilt.

Art by Rhoda Forbes said...

Louise, this is a wonderful piece, it looks like glass balls floating, great use if circles and colors! I think you nailed this challenge.

Wendy said...

Fabulous colors and flow.... wow. How fun to experiment with color and technique! Wonderful work!

Unknown said...

I love this! The colors are great (I also love that you included the black and white circles) and they really do look like garden globes.
GREAT job on this challenge!

LAQuilts said...

The over lapping circles walk you through the piece. I really like the quilted circles in the background.

Veronica said...

The use of the same image in two of the circles is really effective and the images themselves are so interesting. The one thing I might have done differently was to have the circles flow off the quilt in the upper right hand corner. It looks like they get smaller and are further away up there. Great color choices throughout.

Veronica said...
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Jan said...

Superb! So bright and fanciful. Great techniques and colors. I think you need to work abstractly more. Your first piece is great!

Carole said...

Louise, this is so beautiful! Thank you for sharing your techniques with us. This so looks like those beautiful blown glass balls... or better yet, some of the molten glass that is formed into vases etc. A keeper this is, and I hope you will explore this further.

Cynthia Ann Morgan said...

Louise, gorgeous piece with great colors, lots of interesting texture and those fascinating patterns in the globes. Great job!
Cynthia

Marilyn Wall said...

Louise this is so beautiful. I think you know that I too am working with photoshop to increase the techniques of my work. This is wonderful.