These are not the best pictures I have ever taken. For some reason my camera really does not like this flower. I, on the other hand, am feeling pretty happy about it. It is totally free handed with the paintstiks done all by myself. WOOHOO ME!
As many of you know, Jason and I work together on most of the cartoons or drawings that I end up turning into quilts. I have the idea. I tell him all about it. Then together with some help from clip art and books and whatever other sources we can come up with the drawings begin to happen. There is a lot of tracing paper involved and a lot of erasing and starting over. A lot of opinions get shared and eventually a drawing begins to take shape that I eventually translate into fabric. Jason does most of the drawing and I give my opinions and desires and reasons for what I'm looking to create.
This part of the process has always been a big struggle for me. I want to be able to do the work myself from beginning to end. I do not like being dependent on someone else in order to execute my art. I am slowly moving away from it by figuring out how to accomplish it on my own. But, for now, our system works and it is a joy to work with my very talented husband to make my quilts. I love how well we work together and I am grateful he's willing to help me out. He is extremely patient with me and he works hard with me to get it just as I see it in my mind. He only interjects his opinions from time to time and then only when he thinks it could make the composition stronger.
It is important to me to get the hang of using these paintstiks before I move onto a quilt and as I've said before, I have made the mistake of getting in too big of a hurry too many times. My parents should be proud to know their lesson of practice makes perfect is paying off now.
I also discovered in working on this small flower that I prefer applying the paint with a brush over direct application with the paintstiks. I still need a lot more practice before I do it to the flowers I have already made, but any progress is good progress.
The next step, in my mind, is to make flowers similar to the ones I have already pieced and figure out how to apply the paint to them. I want to give the flowers more depth so when the viewer is looking at them they pop and look like day lilies. Once I get that step to a place where I feel confident, I am going to start working on using thread in addition to the paint to see where that leads me.
What I thought was going to be a quick process is turning into a big learning curve, but that's great, right?
Looks good, Sarah!
ReplyDelete