Friday, February 6, 2009

“California Dreaming”

landscape I think that is what I am going to call the landscape quilt. I have decided to go with the darker gray blue fabric for the water. Shirley from Learning FA suggested that I paint the fabric along the banks bluish with darker blue near the shoreline. I tried to do that, but I am not sure it came out too good. I used the Setacolor transparent paints. It came out more green than I wanted. Maybe painting this fabric brown would have been a better idea. Too late now!

Short of tearing it all apart again I am not sure what to do with it. I don’t want to tear it apart and start again. I guess I could add some browns fabric in spots over my “botched” painted fabric. This entire shoreline is covered with leaves so maybe I should add fabric to simulate the leaves. I don’t know if thread painting it with brown will tone down the greenish look it has. This area definitely needed to be darker than it was after I used the darker water fabric, but not green.

framed I thought that I would try out an idea for borders while it is on my design wall. I think I am going to go with it as it is. Hopefully the finishing touches will make all the difference.

Chris

11 comments:

  1. Chris, I am sorry you are disappointed with the dark color on the bank. I should have kept my opinion to myself.It looks really good in the photo - If it is really bothering you that much, you might add a touch of dark grey. Personally, I think it looks great. Put it up on a table at least 6 feet from you and look at it then. I think you are being very hard on yourself - remember, color is something that nature is full of and I think your combinations are great. Personally I think you should add a bit of dark grey if it is really bothering you but DEFINITELY, don't tear it apart. It is a beautiful landscape.

    There are no rules as far as art is concerned. Don't let yourself get hung up on one part - the landscape itself is marvelous. One of the best I have seen from someone who just started doing this type of work recently. It is wonderful. Shirley ps, I like it with the dark along the bank. Shirley

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  2. I like the blue border - I think the brown would likely be okay, but the feature of the quilt is the water and the border ties it in so well. The more I look at it the more I like the bank exactly like it is. If it was mine I would leave it as is! S

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  3. Shirley, I do like the darker bank better than when it was lighter. In fact it had to be darker than my original fabric was especially with the darker water. I just wish it had not come out so green. I think you are right though... to go with it as it is...no more tearing it apart.
    Don't blame yourself for how it came out. It is not easy to predict how painting over fabric is going to turn out. I took my chances doing that. Normally I would have painted over a piece of fabric and seen how it came out before doing it in the quilt. I did not do that today. I think when I thread paint in all the branches and so on it will be fine.

    Besides the deadline is upon us!

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  4. Chris, I love it. It doesn't look green at all in the photo, but sometimes things look a little different on computers than in real life. This looks like a scene you could walk right into and hear the water tumbling in the stream, feel the cold air from the damp snow. Maybe a bird chirping in the trees. I wouldn't change a thing! Janet

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  5. it looks great, but i think i know what you're seeing. i'd go with thread painting with brown, if i were you (and if you're comfortable with thread painting). changing from a medium brown to a darker brown as you move closer down the bank to the water might give a sense of depth, do you think? it looks fantastic--

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  6. Chris, I think it looks good,better than the lighter blue. The thing that occurs to me, though, is that running water is notoriously difficult to capture because there is such a variety of colour and value, and it's hard to avoid it looking flat. I like the darker shadows you have added, I really think you're on the right track with that. If you look at the greyscal e photo, there is quite a lot of variation in tone. You can add variation with more paint or with stitch or with fabric snippets, whichever method you feel most comfortable with. Or a mixture of all of them. I agree with Rice - adding the brown as stitch and altering the threads colours - but I suspect I'd probably add some medium light values in the blue-grey tones too, probably just with tiny dabs of paint. That's much easier to do with paint than with stop-start stitching.

    Looking very good, and I thnk it will be wonderful when it's finished!

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  7. Thanks for the suggestion about brown thread painting the banks with the darker thread at the bottom of the banks, Ricë. I will give it a shot. I still need a lot of practice with thread painting, but no time like the present to work on it!

    Shirley had suggested the same thing when she thought it would be a good idea to paint the bank fabric that I had that was too light. She also told me to make it darker near the water. Of course knowing what you want to do and actually doing it are two different things.

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  8. I LOVE IT. You can always color fabric with crayons. Place a white paper towel over the crayon then iron until towel looks clean. Prang or Crayola brand are the best.

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  9. I've just found your blog - wow this quilt is going to be beautiful! I too prefer the darker fabric for the water. I look forward to seeing it finished!
    Angela

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  10. Chris, I really like the water in the darker tones and I think it came out beautifully...I wonder if you are being a bit harsh on yourself as from I can see it's perfect..Maybe if you walk away from this a day or two and take another look you'll see what we are all saying..I love it Chris, I really do and I think you did a wonderful job...I love the borders too, it add so much to the picture..I sincerely love it..hugs, Skye

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  11. Chris what a beautiful quilt. I love what you have done.
    You could do some thread painting on the edges but it looks fine in the picture.
    Delia

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