Leni Wiener

In my continuing quest to move forward, I have completed the first stage of a second piece.  The new direction I want to explore is faces with little or no background; and the pieces are smaller–they will be about 10″ square when quilted and squared off–in an attempt to get big impact in a little piece.  Many art quilters strive to work larger, but I am finding my comfort zone is getting smaller and easier to handle.  One of the reasons for this is that I want to focus more on the quilting and I can do more elaborate and intricate stitching on a smaller piece.

Here you can see the face and her arms complete.  I tried several colors for her hair, feeling that her skin tone is far from representational and the hair need not be so literal, but only this color looked right.  This is the stage where little details mean a lot.  I did not like the edge of her face, so made that darker; and needed to find the right fabrics for both her clothing (which will show just a bit on the edge) and the blanket on which she is leaning.

The blue in the corner is unexpected, but I think it brings some life to the otherwise somber palette.  I plan to do a few of these and then do the quilting at the same time.  For me, it is easier to focus on one change at a time, and since these are small, they will have not wait for too long.

Critiques:

On another note, often readers of my blog and/or book “Photo-inspired Art Quilts” email me to ask my opinion about something they are working on or have just completed.  This is what I do in my monthly art quilt workshop–help guide my students along when they have problems or questions.  Even when the work being reviewed belongs to someone else, it helps everyone learn to see the problems and the possible solutions.

For this reason, I am offering my blog readers the opportunity to submit photos of pieces they are working on, or have completed, for a review on this blog.  You must be willing to let me share it here so that others can learn from it.  You can send me a Jpeg at Leni@leniwiener.com and I will post your photo and my comments.