Working from a realistic inspiration. A three step operation.

When you’re inspired by s/t realistic (rather than an abstract concept), and making art from it…it’s important, I think, to NOT try to simply reproduce it.

Whatever the medium.

The first step is selection, enrichment and organization/composition.

If you look at a landscape painted by Cezanne, or O’keefe or van Gogh and then see a photograph of the actual scene that inspired them,  you’ll see that they have both enriched  and systematically organized (rearranged to create a “composition”) that original view in order to create a strong painting.

This is just what we strive to do when making a quilt based on a real scene.  Whether it’s a landscape, a cityscape, a portrait, a still life or any of these, the art falls flat if we very literally copy what is in the photo or in front of us.

The second step is intention…adding in your feelings, your thoughts…

That’s when people say – “that’s just not what I envisaged”  - in their mind’s eye they saw it in enriched fashion, they enhanced the colors, omitted  the rubbish…etc.

And particularly in that they have not managed to include their feelings in the piece.

You could really love your little grandson….you could make a quilt that was a copy of the boy…a better quilt would show both the grandson and your love for him.

You need  to ADD what’s in your head  to the scene (or photograph) to create art.

The third step is even more interesting..

And that is – to deliberately address the medium you’re using.  To utilize the particular properties of that medium to make your image a work of art.  That’s why I think just simply printing photographs onto fabric really doesn’t work very well – at least I’ve never seen them work well.  Printing photos onto fabric doesn’t use the medium.  Furthermore, many people just print the photos as is…without  the two steps described.  While it is actually possible to enrich (though not the  ridiculous stifling unnatural super saturation popular amongst some photographers!  ), re-organization, actually composing, isn’t easy to do with most photos.
***Note here that I'm talking about those quilts where the photograph was simply printed out as is onto a piece of fabric, then cut out and attached without any manipulation or designing onto another piece of fabric.  There are people doing wonderful things with photographs, but they spend a lot of time designing how to integrate the photo with the fabric - either before or after printing.
If you create wonderful fabric using photographs, and then use that fabric AS fabric in a well thought out and designed way in your quilt...and have lots of lovely stitching...then Yes...it can work!  But it's not easy......and I will always feel that you must consider and respect the medium.

The glass maker will use the light shining through the glass to bring the art to life, the woodworker , the texture and grain of the wood.  The watercolorist will exploit the way that light can go through the paint and bounce off the surface of the paper.  The oil painter can use texture and richness of many different particles of color.

The quilter should use the particular qualities of fabric and stitching – the way the fabric takes the dye, the subtleties achieved by surface design….

The stitching – whether machine or hand – should really add something to the meaning and beauty of the piece…and not just be an incidental factor.

Constance Howard used to say that it should appear as if that artwork could not have been created using any other medium.

Yes, you can make good quilts based on real life inspirations (despite the abstract quilter diehards!!) but I think it’s necessary to follow these three steps to achieve that.

So – tell me what you think?  D’you consider these steps?  D’you carry them out?  Am I missing something?  Convince me!!  Meanwhile, I’m off for a nice cuppa tea….

And, if you have been, thanks for reading!   Elizabeth