Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Conveying Movement.

I've been pondering over the different ways in which one can give the impression of movement within an art quilt.  There are many of course, usually involving repetition, rhythmic elements, and/or gradation of any aspect of any element.
 Look at the repetition both of the vertical elements and the diagonal elements in this piece:
Five Mills Rampant

Can't you just see the old machines chugging up and down, the crank shafts moving?


 In cartoons, the artist uses lines: skinny curved lines around the object that is moving - havn't ever seen that done in a quilt!  but I'm sure it would work.

Snoopy on a skate board

Also, notice that a usually vertical object is horizontal - i.e. his ears.  We often see this on pictures of  flags:






You can almost feel the wind that has this flag  furling out across the deep blue sky.....









And while I've not made a quilt with a flag - you can see the same effect with smoke in this quilt: Oh, What Pretty Smoke!












 And in Heavy Metal,  I used undulating silver quilting lines in the water to give the impression of the constant movement of water on a large lake:

In a more recent piece about dancers...I split the images so that the viewer's eye must travel across the piece to complete the image:



Do write and let me know your favorite techniques for showing movement - and also comment on which of the above you think is the most effective...your first impressions are very important!

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

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

love the pieces you've used to make your point -- I like to use triangles of color to make the eye move.

Elizabeth Barton said...

triangles are an excellent idea - they remind us of arrows pointing in a certain direction...and our eyes automatically start moving!!!

Claire said...

I get the most sense of motion in the "usually vertical, but shown horizontal"; second the water. I'll admit to not seeing the chug of the factory movement, but the repetition did move my eye along on the first sample. (Might just be my untrained eye.)

Elizabeth Barton said...

now that's interesting!! must remember...horizontal ears!! thank you Claire!

Janie said...

I thought the most movement was with the split images of the dancer. I liked that.

Faith said...

I think what is most effective depends on what you're trying to do. The water quilting looked the most real to me... so much so that I can almost hear it. Like Claire, I didn't see the machines moving, but definitely was aware of my eyes moving up and down. With the smoke and ears and flag, I know/understand movement, but don't necessarily feel/sense it. For me, the split dancer was just confusing. That has me thinking, though. How would I do it. I actually like the idea of the cartoon lines. Or perhaps blurred shadows (possibly in slight variations of pose).

Georgina said...

I love the water in Heavy Metal - it has movement, strength, and depth and makes me feel a bit scared!

Elizabeth Barton said...

the agreements and disagreements over the ways I've tried to create movement are quite intriguing!! I like the fact that the water pattern is working for most people though..

Mary Keasler said...

Heavy Metal, with the various angles of the industrial site moves my eye down to the rippling water. The water movement is a soft compliment to the lines of the buildings shooting in all directions, helter skelter.
But then, I have always been a curvey gal.