It's probably too late--and too near the holidays--to get many critiques, but am appreciative of anyone who takes the time to comment.
Sunday, December 12, 2010
With the Flow by Madalene Murphy
I am very late with this. I shouldn't have read the challenge in the midst of preparing for a show and for the holidays, but I was intrigued and I hadn't entered a challenge for a while. So I started working on it between all the other things that needed to be done.
I came up with a shape I wanted to play with, printed it in a variety of sizes, and then began laying them out in various configurations, trying to keep the final design abstract. I machine appliqued the shapes, machine quilted the background, and used pearl cotton on the shapes themselves. I may play more with the quilting and I need to finish the edges. I'm not sure about the final result, which is about 32 x 20".
It's probably too late--and too near the holidays--to get many critiques, but am appreciative of anyone who takes the time to comment.
It's probably too late--and too near the holidays--to get many critiques, but am appreciative of anyone who takes the time to comment.
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7 comments:
I think it has a nice restful, flowing feeling. It makes me think of rocks sticking out of a river or creek. For some reason, though, it bothers me that the "rocks" face two different ways, if they were all being worn by the river they low sides would all be upstream? I'm not sure but I think I like the yellow "standout" but t's SO different you want ask, "what's up with THAT?"
I also like they way you made a "river" from the different quilting texture. Overall I think it's beautiful - something I'd like to have on the wall of my office to stare at while daydreaming.
At first I thought rocks, but then my imagination kicked in with lots of suggestions of animals shapes--mice, walrus and seals, turtles, kittens curled up in a ball--just abstract suggestions of any of those things....maybe I'd like to see some other kind of detail. I guess I'm feeling like it's unfinished in some way. Sorry I can't be more constuctive, but it "feels" like a good start rather than a completion.
Interesting .... I thought of mice too.... When I blew up the picture, I was very intrigued with the pattern that emerged in the center (stitching or fabric print?). The opposing shapes give it some tension but I too am not clear on what you were trying to accomplish. Is it hand stitched? Like Kathy said, it feels like a great start of something.... but needs more detail! Keep working on it!
Hmm. Sounds like I didn't succeed with what I was trying--or perhaps I did and the basic idea is flawed. As I played with this shape, I was seeing a lot of what you all were seeing--rocks, animals, but I wanted to keep it abstract and so I was trying to keep all those possibilities as possibilities, not choosing any one, while creating a composition that worked. The middle section is heavily quilted with a variegated thread that has yellow initi so the yellow is a bit more integrated in the piece but this doesn't show up well in the photo.
Hi Madalene... I enlarged this after looking at it several times. I saw what the others saw... but as I looked at it enlarged, and your wonderful quilting, I saw an Arctic floe scene... what would happen if you added ssome frost, ice or snow to the 'rocks'.... just a thought...
I rather like it...don't quit one it.
I immediately saw rocks and a stream. I think your machine quilting and hand stitching show this. It is very relaxing and I like the simpleness of the piece. Great job!
I too at first thought Mice...part of the issue is relieve when you look at the blow up...but I'm wondering....if you added more of the lines for the stream...as riffles, it would diminish the mouse tail effect without disturbing your original idea. When you look at a stream, even one flowing slowly, you often get the crossing water patterns as they break over the rocks or behind the rocks as the case may be.
I like your stitching choices and the color choices. They do impart the concept you wanted to get across.
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