And, latterly, learning to play piano. There are a number of factors that apply to all creative endeavours...... many goals and techniques that will transfer from one medium to the other.
One of the things I've learned from piano lessons is the importance of contrast: loud vs soft, fast versus slow, staccato vs legato.....all of these things occur in the fiber arts too! Without contrast, whether it's of value, or shape, or opacity, or quality of line, color, edge quality and so on, a piece rapidly becomes boring. Imagine the one note Samba all at the exact same volume and aural quality - ugh!!! and how many quilts have I seen that looked just like that...b...o...r...i...n...g!
One of the attributes I love in watercolours is transparency and the sense of mystery that this conveys. Transparency is (relatively!) easily achieved in watercolour painting,
and I think it should be possible in quilting too. I used a lot of transparent elements in Gathering Storm (below). And in Electric Fields (detail below)
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I also used a lot of contrast...of value especially in Gathering storm.....whereas in the cooling towers the values are similar but I have contrasted soft edges within the markings on the towers with the hard edges that outline the towers
I do love dyeing and screen printing and have the stash to prove it! I find screen printing especially magic, as you lift up the screen, you have really little idea (well, I have little idea!) as to what amazing image I will reveal!
I particularly like to overlay prints and also have developed some ways of printing with various cut out shapes sticking on the screen, then picking them off full of dye, reversing them and printing with another colour. All very messy and so much fun!! The more imperfect the print, the happier I am!
This is a detail of the screen printed base layer of the piece I’m about to start work on; I’m thinking of layering more with organza, and maybe some opaque elements too. We’ll see where it goes! I’ve got some good rich saturated colour for the focal area, and need to achieve a greater range of lights and darks..sticking with my urban theme.
One of the other things I just love in music are the spaces...it was said of one pianist that while he missed many notes, his pauses were wonderful! Well in watercolor the space is the white paper.... I’ve not often used white much in quilts – apart from the black and white series I did a couple of years ago (example on right). Modern Quilts use a lot of white to great effect.
Negative space is very very powerful in a quilt... and I have always had a great awareness of the negative space and the quiet areas - so important in a painting - in music, in poetery, even in stand up comedy.
And so…. What are you up to?? Is anyone else so foolish as to try to apply learning from one medium to another? How well did it work?
And, if you have been, thanks for reading…………………Elizabeth
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