Colour Unboxed Exhibition

Colour Unboxed Exhibition

January 14th was the Vernissage of the Colour Unboxed exhibition at the Mississippi Valley Textile Museum in Almonte, Ontario. The museum has an amazing exhibition space which the fiber art work of members of the Out of the Box group filled up nicely.

I attended the opening but there were a lot of people and my camera battery was dead - so I socialized a little bit, had a quick look around and vowed to come back with my camera at a quieter time.

Details of the Lone Tree 2: Tired or Overachiever?

I went back this Saturday to enjoy the art works at a more leisurely pace. I also wanted to take a photo of my Lone Tree 2: Tired or Overachiever? Although I wasn't originally thrilled with the piece, I got some suggestions from an artist friend and a couple of Out of the Box members and made a few changes.

I learned a valuable lesson about colour value while making this piece. Turns out that even if red and green are complimentary colours, they don't necessarily have much contrast if they have the same value. Who knew? Not me!

Details added to the foreground

Lone Tree 2 - before the changes

I added details to the original piece, especially in the foreground. Here's the before and after.

Lone Tree 2- the final piece

I would also like to show you some pictures of the works of another member of the Out of the Box fibre artist group. Her name is Caroline Forcier Holloway. We both come from Kirkland Lake in Northern Ontario and worked in the same organisation a few years ago. She does some amazing felted work and really went outside of the box, and her comfort zone to make these three pieces for the exhibition.

Arctic Tundra Mosaic depicts the delicate ecosystems of the tundra - the flora forever adapting and competing with permafrost.

Arctic Tundra Mosaic by Caroline Forcier Holloway

Details of Arctic Tundra Mosaic by Caroline Forcier Holloway

Arctic Tundra Mosaic is a mosaic of felted tiles affixed unto metal frame and painted canvas. Natural materials include fur, bone, antler, lichen and moss. Other materials include found objects.

Next is one of Caroline's two installations. They come from her love of audio and video.

The Art of Memory, Part 1 - Ode to Oral History

In the Art of Memory, Part 1 - Ode to Oral History, Caroline explored the boundaries of the natural fibre of wool and the man-made medium of audio tape. She writes that "The narrative of a generation (is) woven into wool using audio tape to guide silent play back and recording equipment." Her second piece is the Art of Memory, Part 2 - Ode to Home Movies. I'm not going to spoil your fun - make sure that you see her work as well as all of the other artists' in the Colour Unboxed exhibition at the Mississippi Valley Textile Museum. It's well worth the trip.

What I learned:

• Never underestimate the value of "colour value". I really hope never to forget that lesson!
• I am grateful to have artists around me for encouragement and insight. It's really great to be able to exchange ideas.
• I love looking at art and quilt exhibitions but I get overwhelmed very quickly. That's why I take so many pictures. After the show, I'm able to look and study the pieces - to see what works, why I like them as well as the details of the pieces for inspiration. I find that I learn so much from the work of others and I'm glad that I can go back to them when I want to.

Features Links: Colour Unboxed exhibition at the Mississippi Valley Textile Museum; details of the making of Lone Tree 2: Tired or Overachiever? (Nov. 6 2016)

Lone Tree 2: Tired or Overachiever?

Project Details:
Lone Tree 2: Tired or Overachiever?
12" x 10"
Materials: fabrics - commercial cotton and batiks, silk thread, embroidery floss, beads, fabric markers
Techniques: Free Motion Quilting, appliqué and hand embroidery



Linky Parties: Check out what others quilters are making! Monday Making, Main Crush Monday, Linky Tuesday, Let's Bee Social, Midweek Makers, Free Motion Mavericks, Off the Wall Friday, Finished or Not Friday, Fabric Frenzy Friday,

The value of Value

Quilting Arts Magazine

I read an interesting article in the latest Quilting Art magazine (Oct-Nov 2016) about value. Call it serendipity - it came as I was wondering what was wrong with my latest landscape art quilt. Why was my quilt not as amazing as the vision in my mind? I usually create landscape art quilts from photographs, but I knew what I wanted, so I tried creating it using only my memory and imagination. Darn it - it seems that I had a new lesson to learn!

Landscape Art Quilt

Since I've also been reading about the usefulness of working in a series, I thought that this project would be Lone Tree 2.

On the drive home from work in early fall, I saw a very red maple tree in a small clearing. It caught my attention because although it was very red, all of the trees behind it in the forest were green. None of them had started changing yet.

I took out my sketch book, drew a very quick picture and wrote "I'm tired and I want to rest - or Overachiever?" Was that tree looking to go to sleep early or was it an overachiever, trying to beat everyone to the fall pageant?

Red tree foliage made of snippets

At home, I found fabric for a green background, the sky, the foreground and the red for the tree. The background with the lone red tree would take up at least half of the piece. I thought the red tree would stand out against a dark green background. I was also going to thread paint the trees making up the background.

I took out all of my green thread (polyester, cotton and silk), and started free motion quilting (FMQ). I wasn't thrilled with the background but couldn't wait any longer - I had to create the red tree.

I cut the batik fabric I had chosen into very small snippets. I placed them where I wanted the tree foliage and proceeded to FMQ over them. I was surprised by how much fabric it used up! I then created the tree trunk.

Adding limbs to the trees helped!

As I examined the green background I wasn't sure what was wrong. On my way to work the next day, I looked at the forest and noticed that no matter how thick the foliage, there was always tree trunks and branches showing. So I took out my brown, black and grey thread and added some limbs. It really helped!

Lone Tree 2 - what now?

OK - now I had a sky, a red tree with a background and foreground that all seemed to blend in. Now what?

I took out my embroidery floss. I had FMQ some blue flowers in the foreground, so I added some lighter green grass and more blue.

I looked in my bags of scraps and found a bunny, a butterfly and leaves. Getting much better. The white bunny added contrast. Now the viewer sees the tree, wonders off to the bunny, catches a glimpse of flowers and the butterfly and can keep exploring.

Lone Tree 2: I'm tired and I want to rest - or Overachiever?

 What I learned:

• I thought that the dark green background would be fine because green and red are complimentary and contrasting colours. It would seem that I forgot about the value of colours.
• In her article, The Value of Value (Quilting Arts Magazine Oct./Nov. 2016), Grace J. Errea  writes "if there is a problem, look for a value solution first."
• Read parts of her article in this blog post: Quilts Design: The value of value 
• She suggests that a successful design should have tints (lighter versions of colours), shades (darker versions of colours) and intermediary values.
• The article is very informative and easy to understand. She also uses a Value in Colour Chart that I will make from scraps to remember my value lesson.



Lone Tree 2 behind the burning bush.

• Although it was a little late to change the values in my landscape art quilt, adding the appliqued elements, the lighter green embroidered grasses and blue flowers gave my piece some tints to contrast the mostly darker tones and added some visual interest.
• Using a photo probably helps to avoid some of these errors because I would be more likely to notice the lack of value in a photo and adjust accordingly.

This post is linked to some great linky parties. Check them out! MOP Monday, Oh Scrap!, Off the Wall Friday, Can I get a Whoop Whoop?, Slow Sunday Stitching, Finished or Not Friday, Monday Making, Main Crush Monday, Linky Tuesday, Fabric Tuesday, Let's Bee Social, Midweek Makers.

Landscape Art Quilt Challenge Ongoing

Welcome to the third post of my Monthly Landscape Art Quilt Challenge. I've even made a button, should anyone choose to join me! Check out the details of the challenge.

My first project was a lone tree, on rocks, with water and sky. It took a lot of adjusting before I liked the results. Here's what the first try looked like. See the details in the June Landscape - the Lone Tree post.

The first try -  "before"

There wasn't enough contrast so that the tree was hidden. I ended up cutting around the tree and inserting a new sky that started lower. I think that it added the contrast that I was looking for.

I also added tulle over the sky. This gave me the opportunity to add more fabric and softening the sky.

I've been looking closely at the real sky for the last week or so and although the sky is full of different colours and textures, it's not in a straight line like my first attempt. I will definitely try making a sky with strips in one of my next landscape art quilts.

Lone Tree - Final Landscape

This lovely piece will be hanging in my husband's office. I'm thrilled that he likes it!

What I learned:

• I wasn't sure how to quilt this - so I waited. Last night, it just came together! I love it when that happens.
• It's great to be able to just change what I didn't like. There's usually parts that are fine; that are worth keeping and working around.
• The real sky doesn't follow straight lines - so I guess a strip sky shouldn't either. 
• I am very happy with my first attempt.
• I want the next one to have brighter colours! I need reds and sparkles! (That's a hint for the next one :-)  )

I didn't accomplish my June goal for A Lovely Year of Finishes. I guess it's just not ready to be finished, despite my intentions. My next landscape is my July goal (a 2 for 1!) for A Lovely Year of Finishes.

I've also linked up to Oh Scraps! since most of the fabrics used in this art quilt are scraps, as well as with MOP Monday and Needle and Thread Thursday with My Quilt Infatuation.

Don't forget to check out everyone else's goals and blogs.