Monday, February 10, 2014

WINGS



THANK YOU to those of you who have sent positive comments about this emerging piece.  Anyone that has done a piece with lots of challenging quilting knows  that after days/weeks of work and when about 70 or so percent complete... The quilter gets pretty tired of the piece and definitely needs a time break before completion. I do have about 10 full quilting days in so far. I'm about there at that my eyes are spinning and my brain is fried  AND I have another travel that follows this so will finish up this quilt in future posts.



For now:   This lion is winged.... representing how we might each rally our own strength.  A basic wing secured to start with monofilament. Here's a before quilting view:
 The challenge here is to effectively deal with the transparency allowing background night sky to be viewed THRU the lower wing area.  I had to avoid the inclination to quilt with white....   I will make the white thats there look more white by quilting with a darker thread... in this case only slightly darker  using a shimmering silver-grey thread.'  First thing is to outline/ define the edges of feathers.
I want to leave these lower feathers looking transparent so no more quilting on them.... but the TOP of the wings calls for something else.  The upper area had 2 challenges... 1) I needed to show something more solid/strong looking for 2 reasons... 1) the upper edge of a wing need be represented in a position of strength and  2) the photo software overlays/collaging of images showed some edges of elements that were not seen in a small print  size but are in a larger image.
First : stitching equal curved divisions between the straight lines at the top of the wing... and the feathers.  Following this effort... additional stitching warranted between the curved lines .
The result seems okay! The top of the wing looks solid... the rest light/transparent.

2 comments:

Laura T said...

Wow, I'm always in awe of your quilting and always appreciate you posting about your experiences and what your process. That helps so much. I can hardly wait to see the whole piece. Did you paint the picture first and then have it photographed and put on fabric? I was unable to visit the shop in Phoenix when I was there. Didn't have a car etc.... and was pretty busy with classes. Back in snowy and rainy Seattle area and wishing I was somewhere warmer! Sedona would do:-)
LauraT

Patt Blair said...

Hi laura thanks.... this is a digital painting/collage by a collaborating software artist. I had it printed on silk which is a challenge of another sort to quilt... at least this light soft silk is.
good luck on your path! patt