A Bit of Modern Quilting – My Inspiration for Color and Design in “We Love Color”

Stepping Stones #1
©2011 Lisa Call
40 x 60 inches
Textile Painting (Robert Kaufman Kona Cotton Solid fabrics, cotton batting, cotton thread)

We Love Color

Last year I was invited by C&T Publishing and Robert Kaufman fabrics to create a new design using Kona Cotton solids to be included in a new book.

The book, We Love Color, published by Stash Books, was just released and it is packed full of bold, vibrant modern quilting designs.

Stepping Stones #1 – The Inspiration

I designed this textile painting a few weeks after returning from my week long yoga retreat in Costa Rica.

The images and colors of that trip were fresh in my head.

It’s pretty clear where the pattern came from – check out the floor of the yoga studio:

Fabulous fabulous stone work. It was mesmerizing.

When it came to the color, I wanted to capture the blues of the sky and ocean, the browns of the sand and the greens of the foliage.

Costa Rican Beach

Where I jumped off a cliff

When I look at this completed artwork, it always brings me back to that peaceful and perfect week in Costa Rica.

Kona Cotton and Robert Kaufman

When I began my journey into original pieced designs, I used Kona Cotton Solids and love the color palette of this line of fabrics. They have a unique look that is perfect for today’s modern quilting designs.

I’ve now created 2 large pieces that feature the same slate blue background as I’ve used in Stepping Stones #1 so I think it’s pretty clear this is one of favorites colors in this line.

I will photograph Chairs #1, which I finished 12 years ago, in the next few days as I think it will be fun to share it along size Stepping Stones #1.

I now hand dyed all of the fabrics I use in my artwork and so I have moved on from Kona Cottons and I will always remember it fondly as my first love in the world of solid fabrics. Although I didn’t move away from Kaufman fabrics as they are the best. All of my textile paintings today are created with Kaufman Pimatex.

Blog Tour

This blog post is part of a blog tour sponsored by Robert Kaufman. As part of the tour, you can win a copy of the book and a bundle of 28 new Kona colors.

Including a fabulous new blueish/gray neutral called “iron”. At first I was confused as to why this was iron (I had to ask) but apparently this is the color of iron before it rusts. Well – duh…

Iron is a great color neutral color to add into your designs to help your brights pop even brighter.

To enter please share your answer to the question “where do you get your color inspiration?” in the comments below. Be sure to leave the proper contact info (your email address – it won’t appear in the comment). The winner will be randomly chosen on July 4th.

There is also a grand prize winner so be sure to read about that along with the list of contributing blogs over on the Robert Kaufman blog.

The Winner

Thank you to all that commented. My initial plan was to respond to all the comments but it soon became clear that wasn’t going to happen. From beginners to more experienced artists, you all have some wonderful inspiration for color.

I’ve announced the winner here: Sharing a First and a Winner

Tagged as: kona cotton, publications, we love color