Saturday, December 04, 2010

Proportional Harmony - by Sharon Robinson

I knew as soon as I saw the challenge that I wanted to do something with a “golden section” rectangle. Our company’s logo is based on this proportion and was designed by our senior partner, who founded the firm 50 years ago. He passed away earlier this month. He was a strong advocate for “proportional harmony” so this piece is dedicated to him. I’m not sure he would have liked it much, he was also a a big advocate of simple elegance, something I have yet to master.


I’ve always been fascinated with geometric patterns and the various ways they can repeat, so I took a “golden section” rectangle and started arranging it in different patterns. I claim it still meets the intent of the challenge because the red squares are really just negative spaces left between the rectangles. Sorry that it’s unfinished as usual, but I wanted to share while everyone is still looking.

I wanted to piece instead of fusing this time because I'm interested in exploring that overlap of "art" vs "traditional" piecing with blocks. The repeating block for this piece is simply a gray plus a black rectangle.
My intent is to quilt the rectangular construction lines in black, and couch a bright red cord over the spiral, but I've never couched anything, so I need to see if my technical skill is sufficient for that before I ruin the piece. I already learned one new technique on this piece - using my ink jet printer on fabric. The faint construction lines for the quilting were printed on the gray fabric before I cut it out.

I'd be happy to hear thoughts or suggestions for quilting and finishing.


9 comments:

  1. I really like your color combinations (a classic) and your design using the rectangles. It is very graphic and eyecatching. Are you going to keep the irregular border? I imagine that you are and that will really add to the piece. Would you consider adding something black and dimensional in the center of the red squares. Nice work.

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  2. I love playing with the Golden Mean and Fibonacci calculations. I'd love to see this finished with an uneven border and some fabulous quilting.

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  3. Yes, I was planning on the irregular border, and I like the idea of adding something else to the red, Louise. Thanks for the encouragement ladies.

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  4. I look forward to seeing the finished piece, so far very interesting.

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  5. I look forward to seeing this one finished. Are you done with the size or planing to add more?

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  6. Hi Sharon, I can see your fibonacci markings on the close up...it will look great with those lines quilted and/or couched. Good job...be sure to post again when you're done!
    Cynthia

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  7. The finishing details are going to make all the difference to a piece that already is so eye-catching. I like the idea of a bit more red and look forward to seeing it finished.

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  8. From what I can see of your quilting design I would say you certainly are creating 'simple elegance'. Will you stitch in gray, or perhaps red or black? Looking forward to seeing the end result.
    Cherie

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  9. Colors Contrast your design well...the distractions in your photo...blue matt,wood grain,ect makes it hard to see the edges.to me it looks like cut them off or add more.
    Janice Simpson

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