Light: Shimmer: Sun Shimmer- filtered
When our theme for this year, Light/Illumination, was announced, it scared me a bit. My fear was not what subject matter to choose, rather that there were so many possibilities and how to pare down the choices into something I could translate with fabric (always a challenge). And while sunlight in the tree tops surrounding our "house in the woods" was my first choice, that idea fell by the way when I realized it could easily end up being more a study in shadows.
I then turned to my favorite place for shimmer: sunlight on water (specifically my beach, Emerald Isle, NC). In all its sweetness, I give you the sun AND
My large selection of yellows gave me plenty of choices for sun colors. The water interpretation proved more difficult until I remembered some wonderful hand-dyed pieces in my stash from http://www.colorwaysbyvicki.com/ (she presented at our guild and I've used her pieces in many things). I wanted something which appeared more reflective than just water.
The next challenge was identifying the actual sun with some "shimmer". This became trial and error: an overlay proved unsuccessful and the glitter cooperated only slightly better. In the end I left the "cooperative glitter" and added beading.
What I enjoyed most about making this piece was the chance to work with random curves. Like many quilters, curves unnerve me, but these were gentle and they cooperated and it was just fun!
I quilted this piece in silver metallic thread and used the same thread for a raw-edge binding. Traditional binding would have drawn the eye to the outer edges and taken away from my desired view.
Folks often chide me for the size of my stash, but when I don't have to leave home to shop for the perfect fabric - like this backing - I'm happy! In this piece I see fractured light. And clearly Mr. Sun approves.
Each time I affix the label to my piece, I marvel at the number we have done. AND I wonder if, some day down the road, I may want to make one large quilt out of them. But for now I simply enjoy placing them around the house and rotating them from time to time.
Another Four-in-Art in the books! And now I'll look forward to our May 1, 2017 reveal.
This definitely conveys that lazy, hot, sunny, shimmery feeling. I love your use of different materials including the beads - it's very effective!
ReplyDeleteThis is beautiful. I love the way you've created a shimmering effect with your threads, glitter and beads and the handprinted piece in the sea is perfect. You quilt makes me long for Summer :)
ReplyDeleteI totally identify with your inspiration! Looks like you had the perfect materials on hand- having a decent stash makes creativity so much easier. Well done!
ReplyDeleteI love how you took the idea you had, and worked with fabrics and fixings until you arrived at this lovely little art quilt! I like the fabrics with their visual richness, the gentle curves, and the overall effect of that filtered sun, shining on the waters. I think this one needs to go hang at the beach, right? Eighteen--wow!
ReplyDeleteThis is a lovely piece. The hand-dyed fabric is just perfect in there. It's fun trying different materials in art quilts. I enjoyed reading of your process.
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