Structures #50 - Extreme Art Make Over
Time for another art make over, very similar to the make over for Structures #49 that I posted about a few days ago. My goals with this piece were very similar to #49, ie working on having more open space in my work. In addition I was talking to a classmate (Hi Pat!) about how difficult it is to use pink effectively in our artwork as it tends to conjure up thoughts of baby quilts. I was looking to overcome this bias with my color usage.
This is a piece I began in the Nancy Crow workshop in early October. This is how the piece looked at the end of the class - the “before” shot.
I wasn’t happy with this piece on any level and I spent a lot of time struggling with it. I eventually gave up and decided I would revisit it later at home. So last week before and after work I spent some time thinking about how to improve it.
The changes I made were to replace the left panel of murky red with a bright yellow to support, rather than detract, from the pink. I also changed the color of the thin lines in 4 of the panels so the lines would become a more important element in the composition. Finally I modified the proportions of many of the panels and the final quilt lost about 6″ on each side.
Structures #50 © 2005 40″x40″ (still to be quilted)
This was an interesting challenge and I really am not fond of the final color scheme - too sweet for me. I like the bright colors in my circle piece in the previous post but in this case I think they detract from the more serious nature of this composition.
I’ve decided I’ve put in enough effort on this piece and it’s time to move on. I will eventually quilt the piece as I feel it is an important exercise related to large open spaces that I want to have documented in my work. But I don’t think this quilt will see the light of day very often.
I’ve decided that if I continue to pursue the idea of having large open areas I need to work with a color scheme that I’m more comfortable with so I can concentrate on just 1 thing.
I also need to dye some fabric that is more “solid” looking as I think my normal fabric detracts from what I’m trying to do. I do like how the mottled fabric looks when I cut it into smaller pieces as in my usual style of work but the patterning in the fabric almost takes over and becomes more important than the line work in this new work. The fabric and the lines seem to be fighting each other and I don’t think it’s working.
Posted by in: Quilting Process
Terry said,
November 14, 2005 @ 8:49 pm
I have such a hard time with pink. While I love reds, pink is really, really hard for me to deal with. You have done OK with the pink, though I’ll take your desert tones any day. I’m curious why you made this piece so “square”–not just the overall shape, but the fact that the inserted strips run parallel with the sides in all cases. Your pieces with the strips at wonky angles have so much more life and movement. This piece feels pretty constrained.
mary m. said,
November 15, 2005 @ 8:46 am
Lisa,
What you are trying to do here is so subtle and requires so much concentration….for me, at least.
This restraint does not come naturally to me, but is a learning process. I’m staying tuned…
Lisa Call said,
November 15, 2005 @ 8:59 pm
My answer to Terry:
Great question Terry. Sometimes my work is so angular and rigid and other times it is much more fluid. It requires more effort and concentration for me to make the work more organic, so I was bailing out and going with “easy” on this.
Although when reworking it in my studio I really wished I had made it more lyrical as I think it could have been a better piece. Or maybe not. But I was more open to that idea at home than during the workshop.
I find if I don’t pay enough attention to my work and just go into autopilot my work is more rigid than I’d like. I’m hoping that over time this will change. But maybe it is something I will always have to think about and pay attention to.
gabrielle said,
November 16, 2005 @ 8:53 am
This piece just calls to be de-constructed and have more of your patterning added. I just feel there is potential here and know that the path is there…lots of work but there is something about this piece that makes me think it would be worth it.