Pre-work for the class included considering and collecting images of trees. Trees intrigue me and many photos I take feature them... the assignment for this class gave me a reason to concentrate on taking photos of trees from afar and up close. I brought a diverse collection of images to class - somehow I misplaced the original set of photos I had selected, and ended up ordering a totally different set of photos the day before class. The set of photos I used were from the photos that happened to still be stored in my digital camera; they were a mix of Oregon and Hawaii images. Here are the photos I worked with in class:
One of many large, lush beautiful trees at Punchbowl National Cemetery on the Island of Oahu in Hawaii:
This tree stands on the grounds of a church in downtown Honolulu.
A banyan tree at Iolani palace.
Along the Metolius River.
Bare poplar trees hosting a feathered symphony.
An early step in the process we used for developing our design on the first day was to cut/tear dark, medium and light paper to render a representation of what we wanted to capture from our tree image. We also wrote down what we wanted to convey in the finished product. I ended up with five candidate images - four are shown in the photo below taken of my design board at the end of the first day. The fifth image was the one that struck me most deeply; I am saving it to work on once I have had some practice rendering some of the other images into quilts.
I chose to make a quilt based on the photo of a log laying near the Metolius river; the photo and paper rendering are the set in the lower right. I began pulling out fabric for the main parts of the log.
On the second day of class we began construction. There was a ton of activity around the room as each participant went about her work in her own way.
The third day the main parts of the log came together. Since I am used to taking my time when sewing this sort of project - usually doing quite a bit of preparation and planning before putting needle to fabric, it was quite different to work relatively fast (for me) piecing free-form with non-regular shapes and lines.
On the fourth day I forgot to take a photo.
Amazing what came together during five days of concentrated effort, with excellent guidance and support, and in the company of such talented and gifted quilters. Here's what I had at the end of the week...
More to do, but a good solid start. Rosalie has requested we send her photos of our finished pieces in six weeks time.
No comments:
Post a Comment