Indian Maiden

It has been some time since I did a fabric piece.  But I still remember how...must be like riding a bicycle.  Anyway, my inspiration for this challenge was 'Indian Maiden at Stockade' by Charles Marion Russell painted in 1892 (first image image). 


I've used more of a simplistic cubist method of abstraction of the figure.  The background...is different altogether in that I liked the look of the block figure against this pattern.  In addition, I've tried to give it some foreground/ground using organzas at the bottom.

All comments welcome!  

The Sentinels

The Sentinels was inspired by the painting (above) by George Caitlin. Caitlin painted mostly scenes of Indian life as well as many Indian portraits. I first saw his work in the Renwick Gallery in Washington, DC where there is a large permanent installation  of many of the portraits. I liked the lines and shapes in this particular painting; the embellishments are the decorative stitches around the spheres, in the striped fabric, and on both sides of the blue area. My quilt is approximately 24" x 18".
Ann In Fallbrook, CA

Bison on the Plains

Charles Russell has many paintings depicting bison/buffalo on the western plains.In most cases they are running or stampeding with lots of action.

I tried to think abstractly, and failed yet again (my mind just doesn't work that way).  I copied several abstract pictures from the net and took only those to my studio for ideas.  I went through my scraps of hand-dyed fabrics, finding the three here.  The grass one is colored with crayons by rubbing, which I thought would work for abstract.  But then I found the scrap with the three bison and thread-painted them to give them some color.  And of course it became too realistic to be abstract.  In Russell fashion, I added clouds of dust by using wool roving and hand needle-felting it in place.  A tiny scrap of gold became the lightening that caused the stampede.
Thank you for this fun Fast Friday project.

The Outlaw

I have only a passing interest in Wild West Art, but it is easy to see that Frederic Remington's Bronze "The Outlaw" is the favorite of many. My piece is fused fabric using ideas taken from Pablo Picasso.  I was out the door to go fishing in Idaho - grabbed a bag of scraps, my sketchbook, etc (no sewing machine) and my computer.  After a quick stop at Walmart, I was ready. But by the time I got to Jimmy Smith Lake, I had no internet access.  So, I had to improvise a bit on the cowboy because I couldn't remember what he looked like!  It was a challenge - would have liked a wider array of fabrics.  I used tulle to create shadows on my whole cloth background, but when I tried to fuse the pieces down, I couldn't use a hot enough iron or the tulle would melt. At one point I resorted to glue.

 

My embellishments include hemp for the reins, and small beads to attach all the limbs paper-doll style.  This was a fun challenge, but I see I have a long way to go. I am humbled by the talent in this group, but even it we don't like the challenge, we learn from it.

Fur Traders Descending the Missouri

Hi all - thanks for letting me join the group. I've created my first challenge piece; it's nowhere as amazing as the other recent posts, but I tried new things and learned from it. First, I decided to interpret 'Old West' a little differently. After all, at one point the Ohio territories were the old west. The artist I picked is George Caleb Bingham and the painting, from 1845, is found here. It's worth looking at a variety of versions, because the coloring is subtle, and there's a wide range of colors and values on-line.
This is the fastest quilt I've made - about 2 days / 6 hours. New to me were the machine I stitched the layers together on, a 1955 Singer 401. It's also the first time I've worked with Misty Fuse, and first time trying large free-motion circles. I'm not happy with the fabric I chose for the grey clouds on the right - the value is too dark. I am very happy with the reflections in the water, and with the circles I stitched after I decided I had to mark the top and then sew. So I'm glad I finally committed to making a quilt! - Lisa in Pennsylvania, aka DippyDyes

"Wild" West

Even though he did many paintings of western scenes, when I think of Remington, I think of his bronze sculptures, so I chose “The Outlaw” for inspiration. By use of color, line, and shape, I improvised my own form of “abstraction” in an attempt to capture the energy, drama, and movement of the original work -- just not in a representational way. The overall shape references the sculpture, but the colors and surface design techniques are in keeping with my own artistic point of view.

If nothing else, since I finished it yesterday on July 4th, it has an explosive, fireworks feel fitting to the day, hopefully not unsimilar to the explosion of power represented in Remington’s “The Outlaw.”

The piece is 13.5” x 17”. Feedback is welcomed!

Robert Hartley

Wild West Landscape

At first, I wasn't sure what I would do with this challenge. Then I found this painting in the first website listed. I loved the purples and browns, and the lovely sky above the mountains. I found several purple and brown African batiks in my stash, along with other batiks and hand-dyed fabrics. 

My abstract interpretation of the painting is a faux-bargello landscape, and I did some embellishing with some of my favorite matte beads, in purple, bronze, green and brown. (The beads don't show up very well in the photo. )

My quilting echoes the shape of the mountains; the finished piece is about 20" wide, and 21" tall. 

In spite of the fact that the "Wild West" paintings are not among my favorites, I enjoyed this challenge.

Marilyn Foulke

Louisville, KY

Challenge #82: Masters of the Old Wild West

Theme: Masters of the Old Wild West

Technique: Abstraction

Hosts: Pam Clark, Jan Johnson

Due Date: July 6, 2013

Using the one of the Master Painters of the Old Wild West (Frederick Remington, Charles Russell or any other Old West Artist), select a painting to use as your inspiration, but create a quilt that would be an abstract of this painting. You could use Pablo Picasso's Cubism using cylinders, spheres, cones, triangles, cubes, etc. to depict your Western Painting in abstract style. Use at least one form of embellishment. Be sure to either show the painting you used for inspiration or tell us the title and artist of the painting you selected (providing a link would be fine).

Charles Russell paintings: http://www.charlesmarionrussell.org/

Frederick Remington paintings:

http://fredericremington.org/frederic-remington-master-of-diverse-media-p484.php

or http://tinyurl.com/FFFC-82-1

Background info on Pablo Picasso

http://www.pablopicasso.org/

Picasso's Cubism Period where he used cones, cylinders, spheres to depict the natural world.

Go about 2/3 of the way down the page to the black and whites of bulls and notice the progression from 3 dimensional to just lines made of shapes, but we can still tell that it's a bull.

http://www.pablopicasso.org/picasso-paintings.jsp

Samples of Abstract Art Quilts

http://artquiltsbyjean.com/products-page/abstract-quilts/ or

http://tinyurl.com/FFFC-82-2

There are a great many abstract quilts on this page.

https://www.google.com/search?q=abstract+art+quilts&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=ny22Ub_WBYPErQHCrIEQ&sqi=2&ved=0CDMQsAQ&biw=1600&bih=738 or

http://tinyurl.com/FFFC-82-3

Here is a link showing Cubism art.

https://www.google.com/search?q=cubism&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=tCy3UdKJLoiM0QGjg4HwDw&sqi=2&ved=0CDkQsAQ&biw=1600&bih=738 or

http://tinyurl.com/FFFC-82-4

Here is a link explaining the concept of Cubism.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cubism

In this link below, Elizabeth Barton's "Edge of Light" uses abstract art to depict a town.

http://elizabethbarton.blogspot.com/2009/04/elements-and-principlesspace-deep-or.html  or http://tinyurl.com/FFFC-82-5

Here's an example of an art quilt by Barbara Strobel Lardon showing how she analyzes the tail of an owl and selects just

the right fabric.

http://bslartquilts.blogspot.com/2013/01/shake-those-tail-feathers.html or http://tinyurl.com/FFFC-82-6

And one final note: have fun with this!