Day Seven: Focal Point

Today's quilting exercises were based on learning to develop a focal point in your work. The compositions I designed are meant to move your eyes up and to the right in the first exercise. This is focal point through placement. By placing the red and orange leaves in the lower left hand corner and moving them up toward the right, along with keeping the shape movement upward, your eye moves upward. The quilting lines move the eye away from the final leaf to the upper right hand corner of the piece.

The middle exercise demonstrates focal point through isolation. You cannot help but notice the one leaf floating in the upper right hand corner. Your eye automatically moves there because it is isolated from the rest of the leaves. Here again, I use quilting lines to support the movement.

The composition on the right demonstrates focal point through contrast. That one yellow leaf stands out among the reds and oragnes. Although the quilting lines still show movement upward, they do not diminish the fact that your eye will naturally rest on the yellow leaf.

Day Six: Color & Value

Today worked on two exercises. I was scheduled to do a value study, but found a neat color/value study that I also wanted to try.

Exercise 1: Value Contrast. This exercise involved looking at value and contrast in photos and creating a composition and rendering it in low value, high value and high value contrast. I based my composition loosely on a photo taken while camping at Deception Pass. I love the way the sunlight shines through the trees.

Since I only had today to work on this exercise, I simplified mightily. Here is a photo of the three value studies. I am beginning to see the value (no pun intended) of subtle contrast.

Exercise 2: Color Relationships - I just couldn't help myself with this one. The goal of the exercise is to see what happens with a color when it is placed on different backgrounds. Depending upon where the colors are on the color wheel (across from each other, triads, etc.), the foreground color will 'read' brighter or subtler. I picked out 16 of my hand-dyeds and batiks and put a muddy dark green square on each. I intentionally placed the foreground squares off-center. The asymmetry added interest to the piece.

After doing this, I picked out a gradation of purples and placed the same muddy green on each to study value and hue. You can see how some of the hues blend together while those most unlike each other cause the green to 'pop'.

Day Five: Actual Texture

Today's exercise also comes from Lyric Kinard's book, "Art + Quilt." In actual texture, I gathered together several different fabrics with different textures in beige tones then created a composition using those fabrics. I used gold lame', a cotton tone-on-tone, linen, upholstery fabric, ultrasuede and beige netting to create the composition. The photo to the left shows the composition before adding texture with quilting. In the one to the left, I saw a sunrise over a mountain with clouds surrounding the sun. After adding the quilting lines, it seemed to change to fish swimming underwater.

Day Four: Visual Texture

Today my exercise came from Art + Quilt by Lyric Kinard, visual texture. I took five different fabrics and put them on my copier and made black and white copies of them. Then I cut them up into shapes to arrange them in some pleasing composition. I intentionally worked quickly, trying to not overdesign. Some of the compositions seem to be a good start while others perhaps aren't so promising. The first one on the left 'feels' floral or woodsy to me while the one to the right of it has a light and airy feeling. The third composition is far too busy. Less would definitely have been more. While the one on the right hand side has a pleasing contemporary feel.

Day Three: A Visit to the La Connor Textile Museum

Today, I went to the quilt show in La Connor sponsored by the La Connor Quilt & Textile Museum. Awards winning quilts from around the globe were shown including a quilt from the "100 Greatest Quilts" book. One of my quilts, Flowers in Yellowstone was displayed in the main building, albeit in a back hallway that you would only go through if you were going to the classroom through the back way. Oh well...

I was able to see a myriad of techniques and took many photos of the quilting work, thread painting and direct painting as well as three-dimensional embellishment.

I did not purchase anything for new projects because it occurred to me this morning that, given a new technique a day, there exists the possibility that I will end the month with close to thirty unfinished projects! This right after I copiously entered all of my UFOs into an Excel spreadsheet and winnowed it down to only six projects.

Tomorrow I am on to my next exercise. Tonight I'm going to spend some time playing with the Circle Play quilt I began yesterday in class.

Day Two: Circle Play

Today I took a class at my local quiltshop (Quiltworks NW) by Reynola Pakusich based on techniques described in her book, Circle Play. It was an all-day class, but like most classes where you learn alot, you don't actually finish the piece.

That's good. If I can finish a piece entirely in one class, it's probably a glorified kit.

I chose to work in black and white because I had a ziploc bag full of 6-inch charm squares from at least five years ago. I decided upon 3-inch circles and 5-inch background blocks. Because I was working in such high contrast, I decided to cut out the circles, then work on designing the background. It is a 4 by 4 grid of mostly half-square triangles. I wanted to have a spiral assymmetrically in the quilt and I think that I've achieved that. I do, however, want to play with placement of the triangles more. That will have to wait. I want to ponder this more before I commit to the background. I can already see the possibility of a more subtle, gray-scaled line throughout as well. That will take time and thought and, most imporantly, play!

Only after the background is pieced, will it be time to applique the circles on top. Given the design exercises I plan this month, I may find an appropriate day to work on this even more.

Day one: Art quilt in a box

Day one and day thirty-one will have the same tasks. I decided to do this as a way to measure what I have learned throughout the month.

I bought this item at silent auction for APNQ a few years ago. It is a box containing different fabrics in different colors, fibers and textures, beads, threads, yarns and a rolling pin. The rolling pin was carved and is to be used to apply paint. I've opened up this box numerous times but have never before had the guts to cut the fabrics and try to design something off the top of my head. I gave myself two hours from beginning to end. That sounds like alot of time. Hopefully, by the end of the month it will be easier, but today it was nerve wracking. Just beginning was tough. I kept wanting to go back downstairs and clean something instead. But I persisted and got it done in the time alotted.

I decided upon a cross motif - one that I have used successfully in the past. I like the curves and think the balance is okay, but I do believe it can use something else. Something to add that 'ahhhh' response to it.