I like the direction this is going. Do you ever start something and want to race to finish? I do all the time but later decide a piece needs more and I go back to work on it more. I wanted to race this piece along but there is a construction/design problem I have to solve first. Its better to solve this now rather than have to go back later. Soon a reveal of the whole piece.
I have slashed and fringed areas of the quilt. The elements you see are next. I rarely bead unless it is an important part of the design. The beads are going to be important!
Ron decided to help me out with a piece that was sandwiched for quilting. He has never stitched with one of my machines before. I am a little under the weather right now so I told him to go for it. He did a great job and since this was one of the shibori pieces we worked on together it is only right that he helps with more of the work. Of course little LuLu decided right away to lay claim to the newest piece of cloth. More in a few days as the work progresses. Linking to off The Wall Friday
I’m on a mission. I have a pile of UFOs and pieces completed that I don’t think are quite right. Translation, they have no zing, no zap, no pizzazz. They need to be taken further. Sometimes a piece falls in place and I race to finish it with great results. Other times, not so much. Then I’m left figuring out what I need to do with it. When I have taken some pieces further, there have been good results. One piece was featured in a Quilting Arts Community Spotlight article.
The first one I have a re-do on is The Red Wall. I loved the piece just the way it was. It was one I used to jury for the Arkansas Committee of the National Museum of Women in the Arts . Since I was juried onto the list by one of the curators at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, I thought it must have some redeeming qualities. But I have since juried it for 3 separate exhibits and it was rejected every time.
I presented my problem to the critique group I belong to and with the exception of 2 people, the suggestions were not helpful and ranged from ” change the color” to ” add some beads and bling”. Neither of those were going to happen. What I did was add more foliage, darken the vines and tendrils with thread and shade the background so the foliage advances in the composition. Here are the before and after shots. You be the judge if I should have left it alone.
I’ve shared with my readers my journey recreating this landscape art quilt. It was one of my very first pieces completed and was exhibited in a few juried shows and it won Most Original Quilt as well as ribbons in some quilts shows. It was a Noteworthy quilt in 2009 in Machine Quilting Unlimited magazine. I was surprised at the commission request and the mystery of where the original went. I have moved on to more abstract and non-representational work. I wasn’t sure if I was up to the task. But I rarely turn down an opportunity to sell a work!
I’m a great procrastinator. Once I wrapped my mind around doing this commission I thought of ways to make a pattern (!!!!) and decided this was going to be easy peasy. So I procrastinated while I worked on things that were fun. This was going to be work.
So the first thing I learned is that even with making a basic pattern , no two art quilts will ever be the same. They are the same but different. The middle tree is fatter and the heron is fatter…must have eaten a few more trout over the years. But its mostly the same as the original piece.
Because I had good photos of the first piece I was able to blow them up to get a general feel of the quilting. Surprise! Muscle memory took hold and when I was in the zone stitching I felt like this was the first time. In other words, time went in reverse and I had the feeling I was doing this for the very first time; thinking ahead to the next area to stitch.
But the very most important thing I learned was that I LIKE to do this kind of work. I was able to get in a zone of work in the studio that I haven’t experienced for a very long time. And it was not work, it was FUN. Here is the completed piece, shipped off to Einstein Health Network, Moss ReHab, today.
JP Dawes Contemporary Artist 