Monday, April 02, 2007

Landscape Continuing

After soaking in all those excellent comments and spending way too much time on google images typing in things like "trees on hillside" and "funky landscape," I came up with this:

(And a smiling boy with big eyebrows!)

You'll notice that I made the houses on the green hill way bigger and added a large tree. I moved a medium size house over to the mottled hill and kept the fence mostly as it was.

Then I added some fields of crops in green fabric on the purple hill. (The green and the purple!) I decided I like the fields... but not the exact size, placement or color. This would mean making a pattern. What???!!! A pattern??? The horrors! I wasn't even sure what I could use to create a pattern. I finally stumbled upon the idea of using freezer paper. And that's what we have here:

I also moved the fields over a bit so we still have some of the purple hill on the right side of the fields. I think I need something to draw the eye from the house section over to the field section. (That idea is totally inspired by Kathy.) So I added that strip from the mottled fabric. It could be a stream. I don't really like it, but the concept is ok. I'll be working on that. You can see I moved that large tree also. It will not be staying there, but I haven't decided where it will be (or at all).

Then I began auditioning fabric for the fields. I took tons of pictures... it's very helpful to give a slightly different perspective.

The original green.

Batik baby poop brown. (With a little green... just like baby poop.)

Gray blue with a subtle leaf pattern.

Purple silk from an old ratty kimono that originally belonged to my grandmother.
I have chosen which one to use. Care to guess? I hope to make more progress on this quilt this week. But lots of other projects are calling.

9 comments:

kathy york said...

Deborah,
I really like this piece! It reminds me of Enchanted Rock. As you approach the rock, there are big grey streaks of algae that look like someone has driven a huge truck up the granite dome (which you know is impossible, but it still looks like it anyway). Very nice design elements, as always in your work!
Kathy

Anonymous said...

I am excited about the crop pattern. I like it very much. I would like the crops to be in varied fabrics, but don't use the baby poop!!!

Joanne S said...

I'm not liking the large lavender field. Took me awhile to even notice the big blue house. Tone it down. Remember dark behind/lights in front.

Anonymous said...

Hmmmm. I like the mottled grey, but I also like the purple kiono and I think that's the one that won out. I'm with Gerrie that the baby poop can't be it. Unless.... it could be a house (warm colors advance). By the way, your suggestion to me to crop in n my roots monoprint and get rid of the distracting edges was sheer genius! Everything is pulling together now. And Joanne, sorry, but I use light colors in the background all the time for an atmospheric effect. ie: sky that gradates from more intense blue up top to pale at the horizon and then mountains or fields that are the same pale value as the sky. Then darker and/or more saturated colors in the foreground really pop. Me again, with the two cents ;-)

Debra said...

While I like the babypoop batik, it is not a color in the piece yet. You'd have to repeat it (probably in your hand stitching) for it to make sense. or layer some color over it.

I like the silk, but is there enough and will it blend with the purple house in front?

The gray is too cool for the piece. I'm going to say it must be the original green.

Which means I'm probably wrong.

That would put me in the same boat as joanne s. In landscapes the lighter colors signify distance, the stronger colors show closeness.

Sarah Ann Smith said...

I MUCH prefer the freezer paper crop arrangement to the first version! I also like the idea of linking the crops to the houses, but think the mottle line is too skinny.... any chance of either bringing the woods down on that bare hill or having a second swath of crops moving left and behind the houses?

I'm guessing purple, too....or better, an assortment of colors, so each field is a different crop....

???
Cheers, Sarah

PaMdora said...

glad you're sticking with it. Here's a recent link to a post about the artist I was trying to remember Elizabeth Brimlow.

http://caitycat.typepad.com/princessandthepea/2007/04/love_this_quilt.html

mathea said...

It is such a treat to get to follow your design progress on this quilt. I love the freezer paper version of the crops and can't wait to see which colour you end up using!

Anonymous said...

When I saw the piece my first thought was "what's that straight line doing there?" (the stream). I still like the idea of a path or, better yet, a two track (tractor trail) from the farm (larger) to the fields (smaller and offset)....clear as mud? Regarding the color of said fields....being a frequent flyer and former farmer, I say go with multiple colors....the kimono and the original green. And maybe one of the baby poop...that would be the winter wheat already turned tan and ready for harvest.

teri