I have got as far as I am going to for the moment on the challenge quilt. The theme was fall colours and a three dimensional feel / element. It is a shame that I had already made 'Golden Storm'. That is really my interpretation of this theme. Still no point crying over it. I had to come up with another idea. I was thinking about dense forests in Autumn. The way the trees tower over you and the leaves everywhere. I decided I would make this on the longarm, including the piecing and that to add another level of depth I would allow the wadding to show in some areas. So I started by painting the wadding. Just in the sky and the path as the closely packed trees would cover the rest. The first picture shows the wadding just after I loaded it onto the frame. It was about this point I started to worry. I really do think about quilts for a long time before I start them normally so this is where the challenge really hit me. I did press on and put in the trees. If I were doing this again I think I would want a wider range of values for the tree trunks and I would make them narrower. As I got to the nearest trees I added extra wadding. Unfortunately it doesn't show in the picture but the outermost trunk on the right as you look at it, is very rounded. Once all the trunks were on I used the offcuts from 'Golden Storm' to make leaves, and scraps from the tree trunks for branches. The leaves on the trees are held on with quilting made to look like twigs and branches. The leaves on the ground have a more pebbly quilting, which does look pretty path like in real life. As you can tell the camera didn't do a great job of capturing the colour but I think it is close enough to give you the idea.
I haven't trimmed the quilt yet. When I first though of the idea I was going to add some cylindrical stuffed tree trunks in the foreground. I don't know if I will but I want to keep my options open right now. I figure that when I decide how I want to bind it I will make the final call on adding tree trunks. Also I might try some more quilting on the existing trunks to make them look less blocky, but I am not sure about that either.
5 comments:
That looks really good. I particularly like the tiny bits caught in the quilting to look like leaves.
The texture of them is really interesting. Did you just scatter them on and quilt over them or are they placed and held by anything?
Witteringrainbow said:
This is beautiful, and I really enjoyed reading about the processes of its construction. I love the colours too- my absolute favourites.
Thanks guys.
Ferret, I have been looking at this for the past three days. I wish I could see it in person! Your texture looks great, and I'm sure it's even more impressive 'in vivo." I love the colors, and the way the light seems to be peeking through the tree tops. But, I'm struggling with the perspective of the path- somehow, it looks off to me. In fact, that is the only part of the piece that doesn't work for me. And, I wish I could figure out what would make it work- but I haven't come up with an idea yet. Maybe I should get out the workbooks my brother gave me on Perspective without Pain??
On the challenge blog someone suggested that teh path might be too sharply tapered? Also the proportion of it compared to the trees might be the issue. If you do have a book that might offer some insight, and have the time to take a look I would appreciate any advice. This is the first pictorial piece I have made without an image to work from so I would love to know how to fix it.
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