tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1210759514036256082.post3913289587850398581..comments2024-03-08T00:12:34.350-08:00Comments on Art and Quilts, cogitations thereon: the art of abstracting......what is it? why is it? What do you see?Elizabeth Bartonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13928615247903165719noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1210759514036256082.post-42475212054416731502016-09-28T04:09:54.690-07:002016-09-28T04:09:54.690-07:00Thank you Melanie...Kleon of course was basing his...Thank you Melanie...Kleon of course was basing his ideas on Picasso's comments about using other artists' ideas. Picasso (having done this himself!) felt that it was important to take those ideas and make them your own, change them, develop them, add your own character and feelings etc. You see an artist use stripes and you think "Aha what could I do with stripes?" it's a starting point.<br />Thank you Heather too. Yes I've seen a lot of those flower quilts too, I think there are several folk out there teaching people how to blow up and posterize a photograph...and it's a fair starting point, but shouldn't be an end in itself because you get such a stylized look. You do need to put your own feelings into it, otherwise, as you say, it's not fresh...and we do respond so much more to something that is both novel and valid - true to the person. We all look at a flower and see and feel slightly different things.....so why all take the same photo, adjust in Photoshop or GIMP in the same way and then expect the outcomes to be different?Elizabeth Bartonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13928615247903165719noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1210759514036256082.post-328089899884785982016-09-27T15:27:02.669-07:002016-09-27T15:27:02.669-07:00In the shows I've visited lately, the pieces t...In the shows I've visited lately, the pieces that are getting all the attention are the ones that blow up a flower or a vegetable and then try to recreate that object as closely as possible using numerous different fabrics. Now don't get me wrong, many of them are very beautiful! Indeed, I have admired any number of them! However, in my mind, they are not the pieces that are the most creative or thought provoking. Even some of the more creative pieces that don't quite work for one reason or another can hold my attention longer because of the newness or the idea of what they are trying to convey.Heather Hagernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1210759514036256082.post-12894579230311864852016-09-22T20:01:26.116-07:002016-09-22T20:01:26.116-07:00"Stale" happens when people want to make..."Stale" happens when people want to make art like another current artist's. When one quiltmaker creates something really cool, and then sells the pattern, there are dozens, if not HUNDREDS of something that used to be really cool. And now it's just boring. I don't know, Elizabeth, if you see how this is done. Trendy blogger/quilters will even designate which fabrics are used for each patch. Then it is just paint-by-number. While a new quilter may learn a lot of technique this way, and therefore get a lot of value out of the effort, they are MAKING, not creating. (And that's okay. Making is a good thing, regardless. But they aren't the same thing.) <br /><br />Austin Kleon and others suggest stealing old stuff rather than new. This is a way to use one's own voice to read aloud the words from the past, or use one's own hand to paint the images from long ago. http://austinkleon.com/2016/09/22/steal-old-stuff/Melanie McNeilhttp://catbirdquilts.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.com