Friday, December 7, 2012

Darks Push Light Forward

The background was always to be a dark cold night. I'm laying in a Tsukineko ink color called Blue Bayou... a dark blue with a slight teal hint.  I first lay in a dark mid value ,, getting lighter as Father Christmas emerges from darkness into white snow.


I will layer in greater value as I move along.... but note in the closeup below where I have placed really dark value behind Father Christmas' head and shoulders...how profoundly white the whites are and how much more important the central figure becomes when showcased this way.  He's coming along well I think.

One last thing on the background.... once I got the entire background layer in including coverage over the snowflakes seen in the first photo above, I came back to place my snowflake rubbing sources again under the fabric, in the same locations as the original blue rubbings I could still barely see from the front view.  I then used a white dry brush fantastix rubbing of the snowflakes.  I liked this look. ( fuzzy photo.. sorry).

Soon to begin the quilting process....

4 comments:

Beth Stanton said...

Patt, I'm curious: did the idea of Father Christmas inspire your use of the British imagery in the coat or is it based on personal memories?

Robbie said...

Beautiful! Just beautiful! The shading adds so much to the piece!!!

Laura T said...

Wow, really loving this quilt. Very inspirational:)
LauraT

Patt Blair said...

Thanks for these nice comments. This is planned gift for a British secret pal.;-)