Wednesday, April 23, 2014

Five Projects: Finding Inspiration

As you know, I can't share images of the project I'm calling "tall me." I will share some bits of inspiration. I'd really been thinking a lot about two paintings by Rene Magritte.

A Friend of Order, 1964

September 16, 1957

I really love both these paintings. I loved visiting the Magritte Museum in Belgium two summers ago. Check out the mirror in the bathroom of the museum!

I like the mood and color palette in these paintings -- and many of Magritte's other works. I also love the moon sitting there in the mysterious space between foreground and background. It reminds me a bit of Sheep Jones' paintings with chandeliers.

Shed and Chandelier 8, 2011

Another thing I love about all these pieces is the symmetry of the compositions.  It reminds me of films by Wes Anderson. He is known for creating stunning symmetrical shots in all of his films. Here is a still from Moonrise Kingdom.

The staircases, the arched doors, the board game, the chair and the couch... I just love it! Oh and that wallpaper! Here is a delightful short video that shows many more examples of symmetry in Wes Anderson's movies. 

So... I'm thinking about all that. Magritte's trees, silhouette, color, mood, composition, Sheep's chandelier, other kinds of lights and illumination, Moonrise Kingdom, our trip to Belgium, where I stand in the world... or sit cross legged at the bottom of the stairs.

And then I sketch and start cutting up fabric.

I did some handwriting as surface design for a small area for the art quilt.

I auditioned embroidery floss for hand stitching.

At this point, the top is done. I've begun hand embroidery. That means it's really time to get the next project into the design phase. I work well if I have one piece being designed in the studio and one piece being stitched upstairs by the tv.

Tactile Architecture
Done

Radiation
Done

Coming Up Roses
Cancelled.

Tall Me
See above!

Festival of Quilt Art: Home
Must get into the fabric today or tomorrow. Must.

One More
I'll tell you about it later this week.

3 comments:

Vivien Zepf said...

Nice insight into your creative process, Deborah. Cool inspirations, too!

Anonymous said...

Great post, Deborah!

Deborah Bright

Sarah Ann Smith said...

Sigh. I hate the Blogger hoops you go through to leave a comment. It just ate my last one. I clicked eneter without moving the radio button below, it took me to my son's google account with no "back" button. GRUMBLE. Anyway, love seeing your process and inspiration. I too had to scrap the roses quilt. Not enough time! More anon. Let's see if I can read the wretched Captcha numbers and not delete THIS comment!