Monday, September 24, 2007

In Progress

After I finished Blooming Prosperity and hashed out all it's strengths and weaknesses here on my blog, I intended to take a break from larger works and just do a bunch of cute crafty stuff. But, a new idea was stirring around in my head and I really wanted to continue to explore some of the same techniques and design principles I began in the other miserable piece.


So this found it's way up on the design board. A new color way (for Gerrie!) and better contrast.On the left, you can also see the negative cutting of the hand from the previous piece. It's from the silk lining of an old kimono. I'll use it someplace I'm sure.

And then I tried to do some more crafty stuff. But the design board called me back and the new piece morphed into this.

I've been drawn to lamps lately. I love the clean lines of the little ones that you can get at Ikea. And I adore the collection from Artful Home. So I decided it would be an interesting and inspiring shape to include in a quilt. Odd?

Here's my ubiquitous handwriting.

And here I've added some sheer wonky stripes. (Sorry, I should have cropped out the top of that chair. Can you see the one rung that I let Benjamin paint?)I am pleased with the basic composition at this point. I think. It allows for space for some hand embroidery, some fmq, a bit of beaded embellishment and some surface design. Nothing is sewn down at this point. So, maybe I should open myself up to comments, suggestions, criticisms and other thoughts so as not to end up with another failure. (I know, it wasn't really a failure. I'm just using hyperbole.)

6 comments:

Joanne S said...

You're not going to like this-- BUT-- I like everything but the lamp. I think it's the size. Make it much bigger or much smaller. And not in the center. If it's bigger and off stage left, it will give the viewer a feeling of peeking into a secret space. Anyway, that's what I think

Anonymous said...

OK, Deborah, you asked for it. Actually, I was going to let the piece sink in a bit before I commented and then I completely forgot to come back and say anything.

Counter to Joanne, I like the lamp. I don't know what it means, but I assume it has some meaning to you -- lofty or not, it doesn't matter. I have no problem with the central placement.

What's not quite working for me though is the horizontal wavey pieces. I'm not sure how they relate to the lamp. The 3 squares are saying "pull chain" to me, so they're working, but the wavey lines are saying water or smoke. The horizontals stop your eye from continuing up or down the vertical axis, so maybe some other kind of subtle horizontals that relate to the other elements (either in color or shape) would work better. If there were less background then the lamp would have more presence, perhaps solving Joanne's scale concerns.

Anonymous said...

Here goes. I think the lamp is too literal with the rest of the shapes. Is that a table that the lamp is hovering above? I think Kristin is right about the horizontal wavy pieces. I an also distracted by the design wall and chair and ironing board. I need to see it stand alone. I like that you are using another color way with which you might not be ascomfortable. i would like to see you do one of your landscapes with a warm palette.

Take out the lamp and put a nice orangy or reddish shape in there and see what happens. i think you should go all the way abstract with this.

momma helen said...

Weird. I wrote a post right after Joanne, but it never showed up.
Oh, well that lets me change my mind! ;)
I think the lamp needs something. Originally, I was thinking pull chain. Now, I'm thinking some of the fabulous beaded fringe I bought for no good reason! (Let me know if you'd like a hunk). And maybe make it off-balance?
My favorite part of the piece are the wavy black bits.
But it still needs something to pull it all together, or take the lamp and make it part of a more representational piece?

Anonymous said...

Deborah,
I like it. I think all the other elements you mentioned will satisfy anything lacking in the shapes or whatever (balance?). But, I dont think it's lacking. I like center. I also like that it's big. I don't care about your chair or ironing board. You are great! -Lucy

Anonymous said...

Hmmm... I know I wrote to you about this piece, but not sure if it was here (where it obviously isn't) or off-list as it were.

I like the lamp AND I like the wavy bits. The lamp seems bright...the lightest value, and I'm wondering if it is too contrasty, but maybe that is what makes it work. Also, when it's quilted, it will be different.

I'm wondering if moving the lamp left just a little smidge would be better? It is not quite centered, but not quite off to the left.... the squares help balance it, and pull the visual weight ever so slightly to the right...

And I like that the center strip extends beyond the bottom of the background...hope that doesn't get trimmed off!

And I agree. Art pieces get little comment on my blog, but silly stuff, well... I'll get more comments on that than anything!

Cheers Sarah