Vermont was beautiful–some of the days we were there it snowed, others it rained.  But it got the lovely snow scenes in my head.

As a member of SAQA (studio art quilt associates) and, in fact, one of the two NY region reps–I participate in a trunk show of the NY region every year.  Our show travels to several venues around the country–this year it will start out at the mid-atlantic quilt festival before going to the quiltfest of NJ in March.  So today it was back into the studio to make a small piece for the show, and get my head back into working.

Here is today’s result.  It is a small and simple piece, only a few pieces of fabric make up the background, and the tree is thread painted.  Trees are wonderful subjects for thread painting–you can’t go wrong–just enjoy the free motion movement of the thread and relax.  A little snow on some branches (my nod to Vermont, although the tree was inspired by one in my front yard) and done:

Best Wishes to all of you for a happy and artistically productive New Year!

Having done that this morning (while baking for thanksgiving) I still didn’t like it.  It just didn’t look like me. The jaw and chin didn’t look right.  The answer, as it almost always is–VALUE.  Although there was a difference in value between the fabrics I used, their relation to each other was wrong.  So I started again (I told you I am crazy).

Look at this photo and you will see the problem.  The finished (first) quilt on the right, the photo in the center, and the new piece (in work) on the left.  Even without the eyes, the new one looks more like me than the finished one.

Looking at the finished one, there is a difference in the values of the skin tones and shadows but not enough.  So even though the pieces are the right shape, the chin and jaw don’t show up enough.  The face was redone using six different values, #1 and #2 being fairly close to each other (in fact, #1 is the back of #2) and then a bigger jump in value to #3.  That means that the jaw and chin are more well defined.

On the other hand, the lips were too dark, lightening them looks more natural.  And the hair in the first quilt is too contrasty–my real hair has only subtle highlights.

The point?  Value is often more important than color in creating the image.  Just look at these portraits I did a while back in completely non-naturalistic colors:

So that is my thought on value and their importance in the final product.  I hope to have this finished by tomorrow, and will post the finished quilt for your opinions again.

Have a wonderful thanksgiving.  Thank you for supporting my little blog!

Two weeks ago I emailed asking for that photo and the one that came back made me wince.   Either he saved one I hadn’t liked (he deleted all the others) or I was more tired than I thought when I made the decision, but I didn’t want it to see the light of day (although, I will share it with you).

With the book deadline approaching, and the thought of another “sitting” I decided to “make lemonade” as the expression goes.  I took the photo, created a “pattern” for it in photoshop, and made an art quilt of myself as the author portrait.

This is a very interesting exercise.  I have done more conceptual self portraits before, but never one that I wanted to be an accurate depiction of me.  At times I thought I looked like my mother, at others I looked like a cousin (I never thought we resembled each other in any way).  It is so strange to focus so much attention on the face I see every day in the mirror, the face I thought I knew so well.

Try it some time when you aren’t inspired to do anything in particular.  Mine isn’t large–about 14″ square.  It took me only a weekend.

here I am looking older, fatter, and paler than I saw myself in real life!

The pattern I created for myself in photoshop (using the cutout filter set to 8 levels)

Finally, me done in fabric.  I am not sure about it.  What do you think–is it better than the original photo, or should I suck it up and use that?  Comments welcomed!

One of the problems with this technique is that inevitably some areas are missed, and others pull out a bit, but here is the basic quilting:

I am not loving this yet, it seems to be too much of a return to traditional quilting, but it is all about the process, so I will re-evaluate and see where I go from here.  It is important to keep in mind, when you try to break out of your box and try something new–sometimes it works and that sometimes it is just a bridge to something that works.

Prior to the flamenco piece (which is still on the design wall waiting to be completed) I did two pieces that I felt marked the end of something for me.  One was “Market Day, Sarlat” (based on a photo my friend Peggy took in France).

As much as I enjoyed working on the woman, I found myself bored by having to create the environment around her.  The other was Tourist Season:

I loved working on all the people in the piece, but when I had to create the environment, I kept it very simple, in part so as not to detract from the people, but the truth is, I felt I wanted to move away from photo realism and towards abstraction–something I have always wanted to explore.

Flamenco was a piece that I wanted to make, and again, kept the background to a minimum.  I felt while I was working on it that it marked the end of something, and I needed to enter another phase.

It is important to continue to grow as an artist, or it becomes too boring, too routine.  I have found that the exploration of how to evolve and where to go is as much a function of establishing what I love to do as it is an admission of what I no longer enjoy.  In this case, much reflection has led me to understand that I am still interested in the human element, but want to move away from the buildings and and the background–towards a more abstract presentation.  As I am still influenced by (and want to work from) photography, pure abstractionism is not for me–not now, anyway.

Having said that, a photo I took of a window revealing a staircase at the Museum of Modern Art has been in my head.

This photo offered me the opportunity to focus my attention on the staircase and figures without a lot of stuff going on in the environment.

The gorgeous hand-dyed fabric I have been holding onto for some time now (I purchased it, I did not make it) becomes the perfect environment for the more stylized depiction of the photo.  This is still very rough, but I like where it is going.

Remember, if you feel blocked artistically, it may be a message from your subconscious that you aren’t challenging yourself, or growing.

I would love to hear your comments!

You can see what the right fabric can do to complement and complete the thread painting,  here is a detail:

The second pillow I made is from a beautiful fabric I used for a pillow in my thread painting book:

By thread painting one of the motifs and then fussy cutting it and doing a machine applique onto the pillow, I get a nice effect.  Here is a detail of the thread painting:

the skirt was made fuller on the right and given more movement

the neck of the guitar was made darker so that it would blend into the background

Now it is ready to sew together

Thanks for all your comments.

I will post photos as they move forward.

which do you like better:

version 1:

This includes a figure in a doorway in the back.  This is (I hope) an interesting and thought-provoking addition which will require the viewer to fill in the story.  I am not sure if the doorway is a distraction, and if the square format dilutes some of the energy.

version 2:

The doorway is cropped out, returning the piece to a vertical format–stressing the length of the dancer’s legs and giving the quilt more energy.

version 3:

The chair in the background has been removed.  It was included as a visual bridge from the action of the front to the doorway in the back, but the space looks empty now.  It added a sense of depth and perspective.

what do you think?