Four in Art

Second Quarter Theme: Light in the Darkness

There were so many options with this theme and sub theme. I chose the sub theme this time around, so I guess ideas had been bubbling away for a while; however ideas are one thing and realisation is quite another and the deadline seemed to come around extra quick!

I decided for this one to play with the idea of lighting from within and without. This piece is supposed to represent a high rise building, reflecting the setting sun and the skyline of shadowy more distant buildings and then having some floors of the building lit from within as people labour away.

The quilting is supposed to show the individual windows and the two tone different reflection and dimensions of the building as the light bends.

As I built the piece from the top down I was quite liking the effect of the colour variations in the green yellow and ochre striped section and will store that idea away for another quilt I think.

I used lots of shot cottons for the shimmer and it may be hard to tell from the photos but I put sections different ways round to hopefully enhance that effect. I had quite a few large scraps which I was able to use, which was satisfying.

It was extraordinarily hard to keep the grid straight. I sewed one way and then the other top to bottom and bottom to top and similarly left to right/ right left but it still seemed to pull the stripes a little, but I told myself that light can bend on glass in a similar way...?

I debated about the green section in the top third because I made it intentionally curved up at the right hand end as part of a curved reflection and nearly unpicked it and think I perhaps should have, but it's all part of the learning process.

I bound it skinnily (if that's a word) with a tiny squared fabric, also used in the piece and the whole measures approximately 15 x 24" or 39 x 60.5cm

I'm super keen to see how the other group members have interpreted the theme and you can do that at our group blog here, where you'll also find links to people's individual blogs with more information about each piece.

Four in Art: Light- Shimmer

With the New Year we have a new theme for our Four in Art group.
The theme for the year is Light, which provides a host of exciting possibilities. The sub theme that Catherine has selected for this first quarter is Shimmer.

I have been lucky to have been out in my kayak a bit over the last quarter. In November last year, just after the theme was announced, I had a great trip with my Dad and (then) 17 year old son on Lake Monowai over in Fiordland in the deep south of NZ. Only about three hours drive from home, but a world away too.

We had some pretty strong winds when we set out, and there wasn't much shimmer on the surface of the water- more white horses and we were mostly concentrating on not going backwards! And there are no photos of that as we were far too busy keeping going forwards to record the effect of wind on water!  But on setting out from the hut the next day it was calm again and over the next couple of days we had plenty of opportunity to enjoy the patterns on the surface of the water and I was thinking that it really fitted my personal definition of shimmer. But had to look it up when I got home to be sure. The definition I found is:

a subdued, tremulous light or gleam. 4. a quivering or vibrating motion or image as produced by reflecting faint light or heat waves. 

This effect is really pronounced on water. It was the effect on calm water that I really hoped to capture.

 The colours and patterns vary depending on light and reflections

Those loopy patterns of dark and light shown here on the right hand side of the image are particularly captivating in the shimmer department I feel.

But how to do it? In the back of my mind I think, was the work of Pauline Burbridge who has experimented with shimmering on water, much more articulately than me, but hey you've got to start somewhere!

So I projected a photo on to the wall and because I can't really draw to save myself, I traced  that to cut shapes out of freezer paper that I then ironed onto shot cottons in four shades and fused and layered them onto a background.

Always nerve wracking to begin to add stitching when I'm fairly happy with the progress so far! And the raw edges are a challenge...

The piece measures 42 x 26cm or 16.5 x 10.25 inches and I faced it to finish.

Nowhere near as pretty as the real thing, but I'm happy to have had a go at capturing it.

Next quarter the sub theme, which I've selected this time, is Light in the Darkness which should give everyone plenty of scope. That's due to be finished on the 1st May.

In the meantime check out how everyone else has interpreted the theme at their individual blogs and/or the Four in Art blog


Betty at a Flickr site 
Catherine  at Knotted Cotton
Elizabeth at opquilt.com
Janine at Rainbowhare
Nancy at  Patchwork Breeze
Rachel at The Life of Riley
Simone at Quiltalicious
Susan at PatchworknPlay