Hauntingly Familiar

13"x18"
Hand-dyed and commercial cottons, crystals, fusible 
Raw edge fused applique technique 

I finally finished it!  Well almost - it still needs a binding . . .

Based on a photo of my friend, Mauri, at her cubist best with her friend lovingly looking up at her thinking that she looks hauntingly familiar. . .and somehow - she is!  

I had a great time working on this piece and I learned a lot - which is the reason why I joined this challenge list in the first place.  Working on smaller pieces makes it easier to try something new - which this month was to work in raw edge fused applique without tulle on top to hold the fraying down.  

Thank you for this opportunity to participate and share.  I LOVED the cubist slant on the challenge.  It definitely took me out of my comfort zone - in a good way! :-)

Warmest Regards,

Cheryl Casker

P.S. Your comments and critiques are welcome.

 

Flowers in the Window

20" x 25½"

Maybe it's a bit lame to be posting this piece from the last challenge right before I put up the next challenge, but anyway, here it is!

I can't even claim that it is all that cubist, but I went rather freer in my cutting than I usually do, instead of following shapes in the fabric. I added the dark fabric behind each of the planters to give them greater definition.

The flowers, especially side ones, seemed not to stand out from the sky that well, so I used a bit of foiling around the edges.

I like it as a piece in itself, but not necessarily as really fulfilling the challenge.  Your comments are welcome.

Sisters

I have been wanting to try a portrait quilt, so took this opportunity.  The cubist part is in the coloring and blocks of fabric.  This was fun, thanks Sylvia.

Hot One Minute And Cold The Next

 

The painted self portrait shows the profile view when I am having a hot flash and another view when I am freezing not long after.

 

 

Square Thinking

Tobi, you're a darling... This was proving soooo frustrating to post..
Any how, now I'm here.. This is Press. 4 by 6 inches (postcard size).  Fused, Oakshott fabrics, free-motion quilted on a treadle Bernina, inspired by the iron that started it off...

I've been recovering from a major tree-attacked-my-car moment, am really glad to be back.. Hello again
And thanks..

Self Portrait

This really took me out of my comfort zone but it was fun to do. I'm not sure of the cubism but I am sure of the colors.

Cubed Bass

This was an interesting challenge.  Even though I’m familiar with Picasso, Braque, Cubism, and the general visual style, I had a hard time bending my mind around the concepts and how those might be implemented.  I wanted to do something “painterly,” but that was even more challenging given the nature of pre-printed fabrics.

Some time back I had snapped this picture at a local street festival when a musician laid down his double bass for an intermission.  The image had good visual detail and creative potential, so I attempted to apply Cubist concepts in the form of distorted perspective, abstracted shapes, deconstructed imagery, and alternate colors.  Since I really enjoy play with color, that part came easily, but I struggled with the planer aspects of Cubism and being looser with the composition.  This is what I came up with.

In the end this challenge helped me appreciate Cubism as the profoundly groundbreaking moment it was and the instrumental role it played (and continues to play) in modern art.

Feedback is welcomed.

Robert Hartley

Braque-inspired Still life

Still Life by Braque

Although I was in the middle of several other projects, I could not resist this challenge!

The opportunity to study two of my favorite artists, Braque and Picasso,  along with the chance to play with color, was right up my alley.

I looked at many still lifes by both artists, and chose the one above by Braque as my inspiration. My quilt group is also doing color studies now, so I picked the split complementary of red, and did this piece in red, yellow-greens, and blue-greens. What's not to like?

I couldn't quite make a triangular peach, or a mango with straight lines, but I did simplify my shapes. 

I really had fun with this, and it went together easily.

It is about 15" x 17", all in cottons, fused and quilted.

I would appreciate feedback on ways to improve this.

Factoid: Braque coined the word "collage", from the French word for glue. (I know this is true, because I read it on the Internet.) 

Challenge 86: Square Thinking in Odd Colors

Title:  Square Thinking in Odd Colors

Hostess: Sylvia Weir

Theme: Interpret a common object in the style of cubism

Technique: Represent an object in non-realistic colors; i.e. a banana might be purple or a person might be green or gray. Think about using the complement of the normal color if you get stuck on what color to use.

Due date: November 2

Most of us are familiar with Picasso's rendering of the human figure into  several aspects all seen at once. Georges Braque worked with Pablo Picasso with the two of them painting into the wee hours of the morning interspersed with whiskey consumption, cigar smoking, and a great deal of laughter. Comparing their pieces, I am not convinced that they did not switch easels when they returned to work thinking it a grand joke to sign their names to the other's painting which they may or may not have worked.

However, other painters explored cubism, notably some of the Latin American painters. One of Emilio Pettorutti's work is currently on display at the Museum of Fine Art in Houston in addition to other  Latino American artists working in synthetic cubism.

The challenge for today: Take a common object in your sewing room or kitchen and convert it to a cubist piece using non-realistic colors. For example, if you choose the familiar tomato pincushion, it needs to have sharp angular edges, seen from on top and on bottom and a different color -- perhaps blue or purple. If you want a real challenge you could do your self portrait or that of your dog or cat. Think of pleasing colors that are not realistic. This is an impression of the piece,  of what you know about the object and what you see and what you see over time as you circle about the object. In some ways this is suggestive of drafting a machine part in 3-D.

Resources:

A  brief history of Cubism in Wickipedia; interestingly enough it contains references to architecture -- Le Corbusier, literature, Faulkner; and sculpture.

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cubism

A collection at MOMA in New York of Braque's work: http://www.moma.org/collection/artist.php?artist_id=744

 I was fortunate to see Duchamp's Nude descending the Staircase in person at the Philadelphia Art Museum. This was a significant piece as it represented the beginning of modern art versus classical art. http://www.philamuseum.org/collections/permanent/51449.html

Cubism: Picasso, Braques and others

http://www.artyfactory.com/art_appreciation/art_movements/cubism.htm

Emilio Pettoruti Paintings

http://www.midcenturia.com/2011/05/emilio-pettoruti-paintings.html

Take a look at how the portraits were simplified into squares and rectangles and triangles using the face as a basis and the multiple aspects of the object seen and remembered.  Note the odd colors.

Color Theory:  http://www.colormatters.com/color-and-design/basic-color-theory

Of course any good design text book will also have information. This is just one of several hundred websites I found. Libraries also have a lot of resources.

I am not aware of any fiber artists with this sort of work so this should be interesting.

And one more thing: have fun with this! :)  Don't think too hard about it -- just have FUN!