Working with Photographs

Apologies for not blogging last week - I was having too much fun staying with a group of friends on Jekyll Island, GA.  Jekyll is a state park and although "they" are always nibbling away at its natural landscape with various "developments" aimed at the top 1%, much of the island is unspoiled.  Some of the beaches have been voted "most romantic" and are used for weddings:  I came across a wonderful "sculpture": an empty beach with two rows of perfect white chairs!  Facing towards the sea...I thought it was a comment on how little attention society is paying towards the environment, but was told: " no...it's a wedding".

Of course we took lots of photos which will be used for both memories and inspiration.  Not all photos are good inspiration for all mediums, however.  Take a look at these two:

This would be quite difficult to make into a quilt because art quilt designs based directly on photographs are  really fiber collage.  And collage is is the process of sticking shapes together.
Now it does work okay for a watercolor, because it's quite easy to use line as well as shape in a watercolor:

I've isolated one tree, added color and value and put the ocean in as a back ground...





Let's take a look at a different photograph:

one in which there are distinct shapes:

Now this is a candidate for both a watercolor and a quilt design.

First step is to crop and desaturate.








And the next step is a quick sketch:

and then the painting:

and I've not yet made the quilt...(I've promised myself an abstract year!) but as you can see from the sketch there are clear big shapes and it would be a fun piece - next January!

I feel that when you're choosing a photograph from which to make a design for an art quilt, you need to look for good shapes that bear some relation to each other (unity) but are not identical (variety). Furthermore, I really like it when the image tells a story.   Here are Marti and Heidi enjoying a bit of wave watching (I could tell because of the gentle snoring!!) and it brings back for me a lovely quiet day by the ocean.

So, if you have been, thanks for reading!  And for anyone going to the Quilt National '13 at Athens, Ohio - I'll see you there!!  Look for the tall gangly bird with short blonde spikey hair!!

Elizabeth