The Lamp Post

20" x 18 1/2"

10/23/10
I added a revised picture of the finished piece. What I did mainly was add shadow under the bench and around the edges with more black ink and outline the man's arm better. That, and I got a better photo! The original photo is a bit too light.
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The basic image for this came together quickly, but implementing it was where I spent more time! I generally start with a piece of muslin to put things on - and the piece I pulled out already had a lamp post and a path drawn in, long enough ago that I forget what I had planned. However, a lamp post is certainly a source of light, so I went with that, using some Angelina fiber for the light, and a bit of tulle for the rays emanating from it. I added some glitter paint as a last touch.

What I had gleaned from some of the links to chiaroscuro was shading from light to dark, and I tried to create a shading effect using diluted ink. The trees and other greenery filled in nicely, but left a blank spot that needed something, and that was the bench with the man asleep on it, with a newspaper over his face to save me from trying to draw it!

I am not all that happy with this piece, though not sure what I would change. I found my Micron pen cap-less, and so too dry to use, and I want to outline the man's arm and the newspaper to define them better. I welcome any comments.

Challenge 49, Water Lily

Water Lily, 17" x 17"

This is the back side of my painting as I lifted the wet fabric off my piece of foam. I liked the back a lot better than the front; many folks in this group agreed. [Thanks for taking the time to comment. ] Then I had a serious case of 'Life Interuptus' which kept me from finishing on time. When I did finally have time to quilt, I got a LOT of white fuzz from the 80\20 natural batting I put in the middle of my sandwich. I used a serious amount of masking tape to clean it up for this photo. Now, it is already attracting the loose stuff on the edges. I still haven't figured out what to do with these little quilts. Therefore, I have not yet finished the edges of this one.


I started out painting in a realistic way, then . . . poof . . . the quilting and ink tense highlights were too much fun. Now I view it as an artistic interpretation of a very unusual water lily.

Landscape

I got the idea for this quilt when I saw a sliver of light between vertical blinds shine on a run on the floor. While this is not my favorite quilt, I learned that I use mostly medium values (I'm enticed by the colors and don't pay as much attention to value) and that high contrast between light and dark is powerful!

CTea Fire

Tea Fire is my WIP for challenge #49. It is approximately 24 x 31". I didn't know what I was going to do until Monday and I work full time, so the real challenge was time. I probably should have done a smaller piece, but it really wanted to be large.

I used a raw edge reverse applique technique for the majority of the piece. I added shading to the building with dye sticks. I still need to add some burnt foliage and quilt it.

The inspiration for this fire quilt came from a series of fires that that hit Santa Barbara, CA between July 2007 and May 2009. The Tea Fire caused the most direct devastation to the community, with over 200 homes lost. I've already made a quilt about the Zaca Fire, the Gap Fire and now the Tea Fire. The Jesusita fire will be the inspiration for the next quilt in the series.

Challenge #48, Pam Clark

I posted the picture of this quilt, entitled, Metallic Hearts, some time ago, but couldn't find my instructions on how to post to the blog.

This quilt was inspired by a class I took from Linda Schmit (California quilt artist). It was a study in surface embellishment. Each heart used a different technique, but all the techniques used metallic threads or paints or foils. It also includes reverse applique, use of heavy metallic threads in the bobbin, etc. I learned a lot from doing it. I have my chiaroscuro project almost done. Congratulations to those of you who have finished Challenge #49. They are spectacular.

Frog on a Leaf

Well, I made it through my first challenge.....and it was well, a challenge to do something inside of a week. This little frog is from a photo that I've had for quite a while. The frog is appliqued from my hand dyed fabrics and thread painted. The background is a tonal batik which has been heavily quilted for texture. I also added Shiva Painsticks and Inktense watercolor pencils for highlights and shadows. It measures 12"x13" and will be faced. Thanks for your critiques.

This is a weekend of firsts for me, first blog post, first FFFC, first time using colored pencil on fabric. Dandelions are my favorite flower and on reading the challenge and thumbing through my photos, I decided to work from some macro shots I had taken with a dark background. Some of the flowers are done with embroidery - silk ribbon, embroidery floss and silk thread. Others are done in colored pencil. The bees are also colored pencil. I'm very pleased with the look of the individual flowers, but feel like the composition is a bit lacking.

Challenge 49: Night Stalker Modified

"Night Stalker" is a fused applique piece using mostly batiks that was threadpainted minimally.
It is approximately 12" X 13".
The quilting is a repeated moth pattern, black on black.
The light source was a flashlight.

The modified version has added darks to the cat's back.
Thank you for this interesting first challenge.

Sue from NC

Vincent's Room

My first time trying this posting to a blog, so bear with me. I will attempt to post a photo of my chiaroscuro challenge. Let me know what you think!

work in progress - Diane / yarngoddess

Updated, October 29, 2010
I've added white pencil to the yellow sunlight areas and quilted the dark purple shadows. I have a lot of thread ends to bury tonight. I'm considering whether to quilt the yellow areas. It would have to be in at least two different colors I think. Not sure I'm up to that much burying.


Blogger isn't my usual platform... hopefully you can see two photos. One is a sewer drain in a parking lot and the other is the beginning of my quilt for the Challenge #49 Chiaroscuro. I have begun on the upper right of the quilt. I'm excited to actually have an idea that I want to work on with fabric from my stash. I'm fusing these on the wrong side of a commercial fabric that looks hand-dyed. I'm interested in comments and hope to finish the cutting and fusing tonight.

It took me awhile to sift through the impossible dream quilt ideas to get to one that was more do-able. I took a lot of new photos and looked through all my old "artsy shots." In the end I had too many ideas! Several are resting in the trash bin. I do appreciate the pressure of a deadline and hope to do better next time. I have thoroughly enjoyed everyone's photos and learned so much already from the work shown and the comments offered.


October 4 Update: The fusing is done.



http://yarngoddess.wordpress.com

Attic Window, by Penny Irwin

Attic Window
Unfinished, approximately 8.5" X 11" when finished.
Pieced cottons

Was going for the look of back lighting.
This looks much better on paper.

This is experimental. I wanted to see what could be done within the time frame using only what was on hand.

For a polished piece I would need a much greater stash of fabrics for fabric editing, more time and possibly some paint.


In Poeville, challenge 31, I was going for a similar effect.

Challenge 49 Flying Pigs 1 by Jeanne Holmes

This started as a very difficult challenge for me . I puzzled over what type of image to use and realized most of my images didn't include possibilities of adding Chiaroscuro. I kept trying to come up with serious ideas and kept coming up blank. After much consternation, I figured I would be able to come up with a design " when pigs fly". She isn't flying yet but is certainly ready. I am currently toying with the idea of using a flying pig in all the challenges this year.

I used cotton for the pig and background and Fun Fur for the wings using pink for the main wing and gray to add detail. I used an alcohol based ink to create the shadows and add depth to the pig. I quilted the floor in in rectangle to try to capture more of a tiling effect and used an large stipple for the wall to try to make it more like wallpaper.

I'm trying to figure out what to add to the wall to make it more interesting but not the focus. I am currently thinking about trying to add sunbeams in but am trying not to overdo it. Edit, edit edit, if it doesn't add it takes away, but maybe just one more......

How to label a blog entry

The only labels that should appear for any entry are the challenge number and your name, separated by a comma. Please stick with the same name so that your label on the list of labels will show how many posts you have made. Some people have included a name of a place, as in "So and So in Denver" and since you may move away from Denver, putting a different place will create a different label; better to use your name which is less likely to change.

Challenge #49 Lunar Eclipse

#49 is now complete!

This piece was an exercise in values. I used 7 values from almost white to almost black, using many different fabric types from velvets to over lay of sheers, metallics etc. Because I graphed this design with a clear picture in mind of what it should look like, I needed to be able to juggle all the pieces freely. I thought it would be easier to cut precise triangles previously backed with fusible and fuse in place when all pieces were in place than to piece them...ugh. It would be easier and far less frustrating to piece. Very difficult to line up all points and sides using all those textures! Then I was faced with 'how to stitch all those individual triangles and keep them aligned'. So...I made my sandwich and used a double needle with both needles threaded with invisible poly as well as the bobbin. I used a slight zigzag and stitched both adjoining pieces and quilted at the same time...It Worked!

I used the same double needle technique only much shorter stitch length (satin stitch), 2 slightly different shades thread, and stitched over a length of yarn in matching color to finish the edges.

Next, I strung the beaded fringe, measuring from 3" to 6" in length. Needless to say, it took all week to finish...LOL

I would love to know what you think.......

. It measures 24"x24".
.

This was a REAL challenge for me, Thanks Cynthia!

Comments, suggestions and critiques welcomed and appreciated:-)
Cherie

Meg

I thought this photo of my daughter at prom this spring would be a really good one for the chiaroscuro, albeit that I also am working on two others for this same challenge which are larger. The photo has the dramatic lighting, and I thought it would be sort of fun.

I worked with my paints (both Lumiere and Dynaflow, as well as regular acrylics with fabric medium) and Prismacolor, Inktense and Mondial pencils. The metalic of her earring and the sparkles on her dress were done with glitter gel pens. After I quilt it, I intend to add some itty bitty crystals. The piece measure 8 1/2" x 11" .

I'm not too happy with this at present, albeit the real thing is slightly darker than the image you see here as I had to use the flash on it in order to get it to come out since it's dark out (but hey, I still made the deadline!!!!). Trying to get the darks dark enough without it just looking like a dirty smudge is difficult. I was also struggling with getting her mouth right, and while it doesn't look like her, at least it is a reasonable drawing of a person!

Another challenge I faced with it was to get the eyes correct. Her eyes are actually green, and it doesn't come out well in the quilted image. I need to work a little more on it, especially on the side in shadow. they need to be darkened a bit more and highlights put in. The skin tone (the ruddiness of her cheeks) need to be worked on as well. The mouth shape could stand some improvement, but unfortunately I can't change that much anymore.

I also intend to work on her hands...she really doesn't have flippers. Perhaps using net over her hair would darken that and give the shadow I need....But I could really stand some suggestions on the face so that it doesn't look like she's growing a beard.

Megan

Challenge 49; "Megan" (11" x 10")
This piece started out as a pastel pencil drawing on paper using the techniques described in "The Artist's Complete Guide to Drawing the Head" by William L. Maughan. I used photo reference to complete the drawing that was started with a live model, Megan. The drawing was then printed on fabric and stashed. I've really been trying to bridge the divide between my paper art and my fabric art. This challenge was just the ticket. I fused the head to a new background and bumped the eyebrows, eye, mouth, and tail with fabric. What fun.

Fall Gold (18" w x 23" h)
Looking out over the lake at the town park, I could see a dark area of trees surrounded by lighter colored leaves, and one branch of a tree with light yellow leaves. When I came home, I found the gold leaves on a garment that I was going to throw out, so I cut them off and made some lighter yellow leaves from some silk fabric. I took one photo quickly and posted it, then this morning saw the quilt in the sun and it looked so much better. So contrary to all previous experience, I retook in the full sun and it shows up much better. Sewing on all 51 of the green leaves was a pain.
I think I should have left more of the dark space showing but I was having too
much fun adding on the gold leaves! It is quilted but I have not decided whether to bind it or face it.

"Cloister" - Updated

Here is the quilted version of Cloister.  Overall I'm happy with it, considering it's my first real art quilt, and my first attempt to work from a photograph.  I really wanted to try to incorporate some of the great suggestions in the critiques, but I also knew I could dicker around with it forever, so in the spirit of Fast FFC, I set tonight as my deadline.  I think the quilting lines improved it, but I thought there were too many lines, and they were overcoming the small piece, so I didn't do any quilting in the central tan area.  I used a pillowcase binding/backing because it was quick and unobtrusive, but I'm not happy about the lumpy corners.  But it's done and I'm ready for the next challenge!

Here is my first entry to FFFC.   It is 12" x 12" with a mixture of commercial cottons, batiks and overdyed wool fabric.  Fused and soon-to-be-machine-quilted.
 I had a lot of fun with this, and learned so much.  I was overly optimistic about how much I could do in one week. I ended up doing much more fusing and less piecing, and my idea turned out to be much more time consuming than I expected, so I have not quilted it yet.

I based (with permission) it on this photo that a friend took of a palace in Barcelona.

I thought that the contrast between the  sun shining on the leaves and white stone with the dark recesses of the archway addressed the challenge, but I was also trying to illustrate a contrast between the ephemeral light emanating from inside the stained glass and the everyday word of bricks and mortar.  

I plan to use lines of quilting to represent the courses of stone and brick.   I hope that will give it a little more finesse.  

I'm eager to hear comments, this is the first time I've put my work out in "public."

Celebration

13 X 17.5

Quilting is one of my weak areas so I chose a subject where I could experiment with a variety of threads and practice bobbin drawing and free motion quilting. Colors aren't as vibrant in the photo. Will try to get a better photo tomorrow when the light might be better.

Comments and critiques are welcome.

Thanks,
Pam

Coleus

Taking into serious consideration the critiquing of these works, I decided to do what I could with my coleus today to see if I couldn't get a little more ' Chiaroscuro' happening. Auditioning AGAIN in Photoshop I can see a bigger difference compared to the one below.... it is now faced, and having done that, I agree...I sure would appreciate any comments on this one, if you have the time...



Coleus

Fall is here, the sun is lower and striking the coleus at a different angle. This is an 11:00 am. sun...




I struggle with contrast... and the word, together with the links that directed us to work, seemed to me that some part should be quite light, so I hope I have achieved this. I used 16 different fabrics, including 2 dupioni silk, I loved the fraying for the center coloration of the main leaf. I used 10 different threads for the thread-painting. It measure 15 x 13..... but I may crop it to a 12 x 12.
[click on the photo for a larger view]



I think I will put a 3/16" binding on it. I thought of facing it, but because it is so bold, it seems, to me.. to need a sense of confinement..... your thoughts?



I encourage any and all comments.

Portrait of Aubrey

I've been doing a lot of work with portraits this past year. I am finding it to be both a challenge and lots of fun.

This portrait is of my granddaughter, Aubrey. My daughter takes Aubrey and her sister Hannah to the beach each year to take photographs for their Christmas cards. This picture was taken by her at sunset and the light was coming in was coming in very low to her right.

I used a filter in Photoshop Elements to get the abstract look and chose a gradation of four fabrics to achieve the lighting. I would appreciate any comments on the piece.
Thanks
Marilyn in SC

Colorado Sky

I had never heard of Chiaroscure before so I hope this is the right idea. I used a friend's photograph (with his permission, his Flickr name is Carfull53) as my guide. I'm adding his photo here as well.

I used reverse applique for the yellow/red part of the sky and the mountains in the foreground are black velvet that I went over with my embellisher hoping to give it some texture.

Pond

We live in northern Michigan on a small lake, in the woods. The lake is very quiet and home to loons, herons, otters and all sorts of fun critters. I love to kayak around the lake and at the north end there is a large bed of white waterlilies that I paddle through. In the late afternoon that side of the lake is in deep shadow and the lilies glow. Its a very peaceful place and I have wanted to capture that feeling. This challenge came along at just the right time.

In reality the lily pads are thicker but I wanted the more water to show.

I pieced the background with batiks and hand-dyes in blues and brown and stitched the background before adding the composition. The lilies and lily-pads are fused then free-motion stitched. I used a variety of white and white-on-white for the individual lily leaves. The lilies have yellow thread-painted stamens that don't show up well in the photo.

This piece is 14" x 20" and on stretcher bars. I use a staple gun and then cover the back of the frame with muslin and attach eye bolts and wire. I like this finish for small works.

October 3: I took some detail shots of the lilypads using just my camera's flash instead of my photo setup lights. The detail comes through better, I think.




Kathie from Charlevoix

Elk

When this challenge was announced I was attending meetings in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. My husband and I then took the long way home so we could make our annual outing to Mammoth Hot Springs in Yellowstone during the time of elk mating. While this might sound kinky to some, I assure you it is a rare chance to witness wild animal behaviour at its most dramatic. The big bull elk are ferocious in defense of their harems; bugling and fighting non-stop. As a visitor it is your responsibility to respect the space needed by the animals by staying a safe distance away, both for their safety and yours. I have a new camera with a good telephoto lens and I was able to take a photo of the alpha bull as he stood in the sunlight during a rare moment of calm.

When I got home I drew the image as I saw it on paper and then proceeded to turn it into a fabric composition. It is not quilted and I am not sure it ever will be. I really enjoyed this process and I feel I learned a lot from this exercise but I am not particularly happy with the final result. I think the antlers were successful but then I perhaps got too detailed with the bottom half of the animal. I do like my original drawing and I may work on it further, including enlarging it a little more, to make an entirely new piece in the future. This piece is 16" high and 13" wide.

Five o'clock shadow

This is a picture I took of a curbside gardens shadow on the cement in the late afternoon. I pieced the cement with linen and stiched all the lines for accent. The shadow is organza all cut as one piece. I used shiva sticks for accent. The leaves are green batiks and the little flowers are thread painted on. I had quite a quandry as to whether or not to do more quilting but decided I needed to leave it as flat as possible to accentuate the idea of a flat shadow. I love comments and suggestions. Thank you Cynthia for a thought provoking challenge.

Pat Havey

challenge 49 - Birch Trees by Veronica Von Zwehl

This is my quilt for the 49th Challenge. It measures 24" x 35". We had bad weather this past weekend so I had a lot of time to work on it!

It is a whole cloth quilt. I painted white Kona cotton with black fabric paint. I used the paint straight for the black background and thinned it with a mixture of NoFlow and Textile medium to get the shadings on the trees. I used those to thin the paint because water made the paint bleed too much. I stitched the quilt with black thread.

I'm happy with the results. However, I'm kind of disappointed in myself for reverting back to trees as a subject matter instead of exploring new subject matter.

Please give me some input - if you would like. This is my first challenge with the group.

Veronica Von Zwehl

the parachute quilt

Here is my attempt:

parachute

I had an old picture taken by my Dad in the Pacific during World War II, showing a number of parachutes hanging up in a hanger. This was my inspiration. I crazy pieced my background on top of batting using the sewing machine. Then I chose a number of dark blue fabrics, one muted gold, and 2 gold fabrics. I hand sewed them onto the background. I added strips of fabric at the bottom of each element to suggest the lines. I pillow cased a facing to the piece. I thought I would bead the piece, using navy and a few crystal beads on the dark fabric, and gold ones on the gold fabric, but when I finished the piece I kind of liked it as it is.

I couldn't get the quilt picture in the post, so I will put it in the next one. Can't you tell I'm a newbie? Rosemary in St. Louis

New Moon by Cynthia Ann Morgan

Here's the result of my playing with chiaroscuro. I was stuck for a composition idea so started with an abstract using curves...just to get started. It got cropped and morphed into this odd little landscape, which I sort of like. The mountains are patchwork using hand dyed fabrics and I've added a few stars twinkling with swarowski crystals.

As suggested, I added some shadowing to the mountains with tulle....I didn't get a clear photo, but you can see the effect (which I think is an improvement)

Cynthia

Challenge 49-Chiara..whatever!

Even if I can't pronounce chiaroscuro, it was great trying to come up with a project to fit. This one is fused and finished only with stitching--no extra surface design techniques. The photo shows a little lighter than it seemed as I was making it. The size is about 8 x 10, satin stitched edges and if it has to have a title it would be Forsythia 1.

I love critiques and suggestions, but this time I really would like to know if you think I actually did what the challenge asked.

Thanks,
Kathy Schmidt-Quirks Ltd

Total Eclipse

I'm back in the swing of things. I loved the idea of this challenge and have been working a lot with light and shadow.
"Total Eclipse" is a whole cloth piece. I masked out the lower circle with freezer paper and then used luminescent paint and dry brushed the flares in white and copper. If you enlarge the picture, you'll see that its quiled in flame stitch at the top and concentric circles inside the "sun."
Simple. Dramatic.

And for 2 of my recent pieces that use the same concept:
"New Growth" is using Colleen Wise's Emerald City pattern. All fabrics are my hand dyes.

And my current favorite, the Labyrinth of St. Omar. This one took months and I'm so happy with it. It will be featured in American Quilter (probably early 2011) with my other labyrinth quilts. Again, all my hand dyed fabric. This was built from a graph paper model, and starting at the center, each row was individually cut, pieced and attached.


Great topic, Cynthia! Thanks for keeping us all rolling along! Comments, of course, are welcome!

Challenge 49

Pottery
This is my first attempt at Chiaroscuro.  The design was drawn on Lutrador, then painted with fabric paints, and a black marker.  A mottled black batik was used in the background, with the light source concentrated in the  front.
Shading was added with dye sticks, thread, and black and white netting.  The black netting, which adds texture and softens the edges, shows in the photo. The light and texture of the white netting is visible in the foreground of the original piece, but blends in the photo.  The piece is 9" x 9 1/2".  I look forward to your comments.  LindaMac