Saturday, February 2, 2008

Saturday's Progress...


After securing all the necessities for a successful quilting session (the new iron Sal bought me for Christmas, some magazines for reference AND, my favorite moose cup filled with chai tea), I began working on the appliqueing process of the iris flowers. All the flowers have been cut out, freezer paper removed, wonderunder attached to the back. Next, each and every flower is ironed down in place -- being extremely careful to place the each item along the edge "exactly" where they are on the original painting, so that when my "slice" is attached to the neighboring slice (on the left) the flowers, stamen, leaves and stems match up. I check and re-check placement as I'm working. Now - I am getting ready to lay in some white acrylic paint and some Tsukineko dark blue and black ink to highlight and outline. I use my really crappy brushes when I'm doing dry brush technique.
These cheap brushes (made in China) have long wooden handles and feel like they are made out of straw. I love them for dry brushing as the bristles stay separate and work really well for this technique.



Now comes the really fun part. I have selected several hues of blue, yellow and gold threads -- all types - rayon, cotton and silk. I use different types of thread because the way the light plays off of the different fibers (silk, cotton, rayon) adds to the texture of the piece.
LEARNING CURVE ITEM #1: I remember as a kid growing up in Ohio that every spring, our little white house was surrounded with tulips and gigantic iris. My mom loved tulips, iris and hiacynth. I remember those iris being all different shades of purple - from the lightest to the darkest, so, it naturally made sense that when I first began selecting fabrics, paints and threads for this project, I immediately went for the dark violets and purples. I went with what my "brain" told me an iris looked like rather than what Van Gogh's image of the iris was. Alas, I bought all the wrong colors. Worse yet -- I didn't even realize the colors were way off until after I had the first batch of flowers totally cut out. What I love about doing these slice quilts is that they take me far out of my comfort zone. I have to really stretch my abilities and sometimes that means doing and re-doing the same thing over and over again until I get it right. It also means that I really have to "see" things, and not just "look" at them -- and I think I'm slowly acquiring that skill. How cool is that!!!

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

What a fascinating post! I can't wait to see your finished project...the iris is my favorite flower and I am loving what you're doing!

Wurzerl said...

Patsy said all correct. But it' s not only fascinating, I read it like a thrilling book. I'll come back every day to see more of it. What a wonderful project!!!
Have a nice week Wurzerl

Nikki said...

I love the progress you are making. Understand the part about thinking that something should look a certain way and then realizing that its not. But now you have all those beautiful purples to work with on something else.

Digitalgran said...

Those colours you have there are yummy. I enjoyed the pprogress report.

Unknown said...

Hi Cathie, this looks interesting and I love irises too! a lot of work, I'm looking forward to watch your work on this one! The colours are gorgeous!
Andrea

Barbara Hagerty said...

WOW! Cathie, this is beautiful! I love that you're painting this and that you're using all differnt kinds of thread for the diffent lighting effects! This is a gorgeous piece!!

Vivian said...

This is looking really good! I work with the inks as well ... they give beautiful colour.

Anonymous said...

Years ago, on a family outing, with six adults and my one grandchild (at the time). I looked out the window late on a gray wintry afternoon and asked all of the adults, "What color are those trees over there?" They all said "brown" or "Gray" or something in between. I then asked my granddaughter, who was still young enough to be strapped into a child car seat. She looked up and without hesitation, said "Pink".
All of the adults laughed, thinking she was wrong. I suggested they not say the colors that they thought the trees should be, but actually look at the color of the trees. Each one then said, "OMG, they're pink! "Oh, to see through the eyes of a child"

Anonymous said...

I am really looking forward to watching your progress on this project.

This just happens to be one of my favorite works of art.

Wish I were going to be here in NC to see it in person at one of the future CMMG meetings.

Keep working on it as long as you are enjoying it.

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