Layouts, Samples and a "Reveal"!

It was a Full Friday in the sewdio yesterday.  I began by laying out a piece for Week 3 of "About Contrast", the class I'm taking with Pamela Allen.  This week's assignment is to work with contrast in shape and/or size -- whether low or high contrast.  Definitely harder for me than with colour, because I like things to be in proportion.

That said, here's an example of past work where the piece is dominated by one large item:

House I - mounted on linen-covered stretched canvas

Loving abandoned buildings, I went back to them for the assignment.  Here's the inspirational photo:

And here are the two layouts I've tried thus far -- nothing is stitched down, just placed on the background.

Rough layout #1

Rough layout #2

I'm thinking that the building is too big -- there's not enough contrast in size.  I want the building to look lonely and forlorn and small.    The upholstery fabric for the roof and walls has a great texture, and I've put a couple of slits in the roof, showing how its falling apart:

Of course, there's no stitching on the piece yet, no over-grown grasses...

While letting that 'percolate' on my work table, I went into my 'wet room' (i.e. my back room where I do messy things) and played with paint.  I wanted to add colour to the pebbles in the sample of the beach piece about which I recently posted (scroll down).  You'll note in the inspirational photo that there are coloured pebbles in the water...

So I stitched a scrap of the pebble fabric, using monopoly (clear) thread, and daubed on some colours from my newly-acquired collection of Pebeo Setacolor paints:

I liked the results, so I went ahead and painted some of the pebbles on the miniature sample.  The trick was to paint just the right number of stones (it's so much fun, I wanted to keep going!)...and to space them out "artfully"...in the right proportions.  The pearly white paint was a wonderful accent to add the glisten of the water, as well as to soften the brightness of the colours.

Gems on the Beach

I like it so much that I've given it a title, and am going to attach the black mat and put it in my inventory of miniatures for sale.  :-)  Doncha love it when a sample works out?

Now to go forward with the larger piece, which I want to mount on stretched canvas and put in the Lacombe Art Show in April.

Speaking of shows, yesterday was also "Reveal Day" for the Fifteen by Fifteen Group's latest theme, "Rhythm".  You can see all of the pieces on the Group's blog...I think they're our best yet!  But here's my piece...

Rural Rhythms  (C) 2014

A face only a mother could love, eh?!  ;-)  My artist's statement (on the Fifteen by Fifteen blog) explains...

I'm linking late to Nina Marie's Off the Wall Friday...why not stop by there too?

Moving to the Rhythm

I was going to call this post "Of Weeping and Wailing and Gnashing of Teeth", but thought better of it when my piece for the 15 x 15 "Rhythm" challenge, finally finished, turned out reasonably well.  I was grateful to be able to finish it on my own machine, which is running beautifully and has stopped chewing thread, but for a while earlier today, I despaired of even finishing it at all.

Rural Rhythms - Landscape detail

I'd completed the last bit of free-motion quilting  on the central landscape (lower left in the photo), and attached a facing...when I discovered that a) the quilting on a portion of the lower left corner of the piece was coming out; and b) the 1/4" seam along the bottom, though accurately sewn, didn't line up properly with where I wanted the bottom of the piece to be, and showed some unsightly stay-stitching that was meant to be hidden by the facing.


Sigh.  I had to take the entire facing off to remedy these problems, only to find out that adjusting the seam on the bottom -- to cover the unsightly stitching that was part of the construction but not to be viewed -- meant that the piece would be shorter from top to bottom.  It didn't begin that way, but to have the bottom finished as neatly as possible, a half-inch was sacrificed (i.e., it finishes at 15" W x 14.5" L).

This will likely keep it from being exhibited with others in that theme --  it might even disqualify it from the bi-monthly challenge, but I am going to submit it and see what happens.  I could do a completely different piece, or even attempt a re-make (the deadline is January 31), but as of this writing, I'm in no mood to do either.

No matter.  I may enter it in the Focus on Fibre Arts up-coming biennial juried show, "Prairies" (deadline for entry, February 21).  Que sera, sera, eh?  What will be, will be!

On a cheerier note, I neglected to mention in yesterday's post that in addition to the bookstore, I paid a visit to a recently opened quilt shop in the heart of "old" downtown Red Deer: Sew You're Quilty! I've only been in this part of the city once before, and came at it from a different direction this time, so it was fun to park the car (lots of metred parking) and walk to the store, only to discover it's next door to a camera shop I'd visited when I needed passport photos a few years ago.

The store is a good size and a bit austere, with lots of wall space for future samples and stock.  At the back is a large doorway through which a long-arm machine and frame are clearly visible.  My 'fat quarter radar' was in full operation, so once I found the fusible web I needed, I zeroed in on the shop's selection, and picked out these lovely ones for future landscapes:

The extra good news (for me, anyway!) was that they carry a selection of Superior Threads' "King Tut" line, which they favour in the long-arm, as well as the "Nature Colors" line favoured by artist Hollis Chatelaine.  This means I can call them to check on colour availability of their stock of KT -- driving to Red Deer is easier and less expensive than driving to Edmonton or shipping from the U.S.!

Next up: a couple of new pieces -- and some more minis.  Oh, and I've a pair of socks to finish -- albeit belatedly -- for my daughter, who'll be 33 (!) on Monday.  How'd that happen?!

Because it's still open...I'm linking this to Nina Marie's Off-the-Wall Friday.  Have a great rest of the weekend!