Friday, May 21, 2010

Landscape

I finished this landscape quilt quite some time ago, but only recently got a decent photo of it. Gosh... it looks so tiny here on the blog. It's actually 74x18." It's called "Over and Beyond."I created it as part of a challenge for a small art quilt group I belong to here in Dallas. The Twisted Stitchers created vertical quilts for the "large applique" category at the Dallas Quilt Show in 2007. And for 2010 we decided to make horizontal quilts.

It is very much inspired by my 12x12 quilt for the "twelve" theme which is titled "Seven Houses Five Trees." I love the color scheme, the surface design, the hand embroidery and the graphic landscape-like lines. It was fun to return to those elements.

The title refers to what we might find just over the hill or beyond the horizon. What's next? What's hidden? There are a few ampersands stitched into the background. I love the swirly graphic shape of an ampersand, plus I like the idea of combining, grouping and layering -- which the word "and" represents. You can see part of one in this detail.
There is another ampersand in this detail. Those representational cloud sections are monoprints created with bubble wrap. The blue stamp on the green hill was hand made with strips of linoleum. Of course, the yellow circles are printed with a jar.

It kind of seems like that last house is just sliding right down the hill, doesn't it? Sometimes life feels like that, I suppose. Slippery!

12 comments:

Gerrie said...

I love it. I think all of your surface design marks really make this special. I am happy to finally see it.

Brenda Gael Smith said...

I hope you have a special place to display this very special work.

I have a perfect spot here at Copacabana! where my house looks like it might slide down the hill:-)

Vicki W said...

I agree with Gerrie, your surface marks are fantastic and I also love the little houses off to themselves. Fabulous!

Terry Grant said...

Oh this just makes me smile! Very special piece.

Diane N said...

This piece is really nice. I would advise everyone viewing the photo to click on it so you can really see all the work and detail easily. Beautiful job!

Kristin L said...

Add me to your list of admirers too! This is one of those pieces that grabs you from far away with it's bold colors and shapes and then rewards you up close with all your fabulous details. Great job!!!

mathea said...

I love this quilt! The colours, the shapes, the depth created by the printed patterns and your combination of hand and machine stitches - it makes me want to get up close and explore all the details properly. And it makes me happy, just looking at it :-)

Karen said...

This is great Deborah, the circles are so perfect and the linear marks!!! wonderful

Natalya Khorover Aikens said...

oh it's gorgeous! wish i could see it in person....such happy colors..

Diane Perin said...

Oh, Deborah, what a delightful piece! Wonderful color and your wonderful elements -- I love how the houses and trees in this large piece are smaller (compared to the overall hill sizes) -- it feels like such a happy piece of the world!

Diane said...

Just beautiful! And, what incredible detailed work. Thanks for sharing some of techniques used~very clever =)

Willa said...

so clever and creative.
wonderful