I was debating about whether to fuse the pieces to the batting -- or not.
First, I did lines and lines of "journaling" in the sky. No close up, sorry. Then I decided to fuse. Yes! I made a decision.
Then I started auditioning detail pieces. Here you see one tree. And a little village. And an awful off white piece that I was considering for a large foreground plant.
You can see I've also moved the quilt to my studio table -- which wasn't working so well. Hard to get a long view of the whole piece. Plus... all my scraps and tools are sitting on top of it distracting me. Another reason to work small.
Here I've removed that one really dark purple house. Too dark. I also added some rubber stamping to the off white fabric and cut it into "fence posts." I also cut a template for the trees. Apparently, I was also making phone calls. (And that red pile in the background? Fabric that needs to be folded, sorted and stored. Ahem.)
More trees. Smaller fence posts and a house. A most excellent organza house on the left. I love the layered look. I cut some tiny leaf shapes that I'll consider for a patch of flowers on the hillside. You can barely see them sitting next to that folded green fabric. They are too small.
More of the village. Great potential for some hand embroidery here.
Then I got organized and bought some black and white felt. I made a giant pillow case with the black on one side and the white on the other to cover the insulation board. Now I have a real design wall that I can stick stuff too. Yeah! So here is the piece now -- just staring at me. I walked past it this morning and thought, "Hmmmm it really does look like one of my post cards, just bigger." I think that's what I was going for, but I need to take it further.
There are lots of dead spots here. And it probably lacks a central focus. I like the village. The trees need attention. I could probably cut off about six inches from the bottom for a better composition. Comments welcome.
7 comments:
I think you are right, all the elements are there, they just need to be pulled together. I'm not sure how literal you want to be, but what stands out to me is that the houses and the trees are about the same size. It would probably help the "perspective" if the tress were a little smaller and the houses were bigger. Maybe much bigger, so they could cover/interact with more of the purple hill. How important are the trees? Could you break up all the purple with a little path to lead the eye through the composition to the trees? Maybe lots and lots of stitching on teh green hill and village, and then something simple on the purple hill so the eye knew that was where you were supposed to rest? Did you really want/need this much feedback?! It really is coming along nicely and I think it's a great challenge to work in a different scale than you are used to.
Kristin is good! I like her suggestions. I think you have created a large land scape with small architectural elements. It really is hard to work large and why I don't do it much any more. Your fantastic perle cotton stitching will do a lot to break up the large spaces on the purple hill. I love the way the fence looks in the lower right.
Keep playing, you are getting there. But be sure it has that Deborah look!
maybe move some of those trees down onto the side of the light purple hill. Or maybe you could make the purple hill a field of crops for texture.
There's that on person whose in Quilt National all the time who does just rows of crops in perspective and they are beautiful. Sorry can't remember her name.
But I tried to do this in my Alien Invasion quilt, the lower left side has crops and crop circles. Anyway, I've always fallen for those Tuscan-looking landscapes of farmed hills, probably grape vineyards, eh?
Maybe you would find inspiration in Grant Woods landscapes. I'm thinking of "Young Corn" or "Stone City, Iowa" or "The Birthplace of Herbert Hoover". I love his puffy trees.
Deb Thanks for sharing this everyones comments really helped me in my own learning I agree with what has been said but had a thought about your houses since it looks like a farm scene to me could you add details when you hand sew to emphasise that and maybe one of the small houses is a chicken coop or corn crib ok I guess you can tell I grew up rural lol this is great and I enjoy reading and learning from your blog please keep showing us how this develops thanks Julia
guess i forgot to say the largest house looks like a barn to me that might help my comment make more sense ;) Julia
I'm liking it. The fence is great and I agree that the perspective on the houses and trees (size) needs to be altered. A path that disappears and reappears as it goes over the hills to the trees would be great and *echo* the *path* of the fence.
I know how hard it is to go from working small to large as I am trying to do that now (on the continuing urging of L C-W)and it is a challenge.
This piece screams Deb B. tho....you really DO have your own voice!! WIsh I could find mine.
teri
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