His Eyes Bored Into My Soul

 
I took this picture of an owl when my husband and I were in Alaska a few years ago.  His intense stare has always enthralled me.  I used Photoshop filters to alter the picture of the owl.  I found a yellow fabric in my stash that matched the yellow of his eyes, to help highlight the eyes.  I used browns as the frame so as not to take away the intensity of the eyes. As shown by the close up, the owl is heavily quilted except for the eyes and the beak. I have always wanted to do something with this photo and really enjoyed making this quilt. I have several other ideas for eyes but decided on this one.  I may continue with this theme for a while. I truly enjoyed this challenge!

The Window of My Heart

This is the first piece I have done since before my husband passed away last summer. 

My late husband and son are in the window.  I used a window with shutters because I no longer can see them in this world but they are very much a part of my heart. I have a series of window and door pictures from New Orleans.  Many of them are shuttered closed.  I picked this one because although it is shuttered, the shutters are open to see inside.  I used photoshop PS5 to merge the faces into the window.  I printed out the picture on cotton and cut it out.  The background is some fabric I painted last year and it seemed like a good background for a window.  I have quilted the piece but have not bound it because I plan to matt and frame it.

Find Your Own Path

I played with several of the gestalt principles using fabric paint and some of my homemade stencils.  None of the samples thrilled me but found I was drawn to the similarity/anamoly principle.  I came up with the idea of individuality and went to posemaniacs.com to create the figures.  Since they are small (entire quilt is only 17 x 21) I used faux suede for the figures to keep the intricate details from unraveling.  I dug the border out of my stash and found a piece of my hand dyed fabric that went well with the rust color in the border.  I finished the edges of the quilt using the pillowcase method.  The only thing I have left to do is quilt it.  I plan to use echo quilting.  I just need to go to the store to find a muted rust thread.

I haven't posted in a while.  Between work and my husband's health, anything creative has been on the back burner.  However, finals are coming up next week and I hope to have some time to play this summer.  This was a really great challenge and I may make another one using one of the other principles.

LindaBN from Louisiana

Mesmerized

This is my first attempt at using value to do portraits.  I am happy with everything except the choice of fabrics.  I think there is too big of a jump between the two lightest and the next fabric.  Thus, I haven't stitched it.  The most challenging part was the eyes.  I am happy with the way they turned out.  I used a white colored pencil to get the white dots that make the eyes come alive. I just wish the fabrics had a better gradation.  Please let me know what you think.   Should I toss it and start over or stitch it???

Lindabn from Louisiana

Notan designs

I actually have a partially completed quilt that uses the notan design elements but I wanted to do something from scratch.  The first night I cut out a basic square and straight lines out of freezer paper.  I fused it to some of my dyed fabic and then painted the uncovered fabric black to get my first design.  I like the clean lines but it didn't excite me.  While cleaning the next day I came across a leaf design I had drawn several weeks ago and decided to try to turn it into a notan piece.  I really wanted to applique this piece so I could finish it.  Since there is a right and wrong side to the fabric, I had to draw and cut out opposites to complete the design.   I ended up with two completed pieces that I may turn into a bag or pillow.  I really like the second design more but I think it needs something in the middle.  I could really get hooked on this technique!

LindaBN from Louisiana

Intensity

I am a new member to FFFC and thrilled to be here. I have been following this blog for the last year and have been impressed with the creativity of the group. I loved August's challenge and wanted to get an early start:)

This piece represents the inner turmoil and tension brought on by the external world. This person is internalizing the immense tension 0f the storm. I used two photos which I altered and merged in photoshop. I played with the color to get that deep purple/grey of dark stormy days. I further intensified the color with Neocolor II water soluble crayons before binding and freemotion stitching.

I have been spending a lot of time the last year playing with art quilt tools and colors. I have been using: dye, various paints and inks, water soluble crayons, pencils and markers, screen printing, stamping, transfers, deconstructive printing, etc. However, very little of my playing has resulted in finished pieces. I am hoping to complete one piece a month using different techniques. All critiques and comments are welcome!

LindaBN from Louisiana