Telling it All at Mint Hill Arts

Mint Hill Arts, Mint Hill NC, invited me to talk about my work, show some of it and then demonstrate how I create my work.

Folks there are not very familiar with textile art, so it should be fun.

I am bringing some of the wonderful seeds that are my inspiration, some of my newest work and will be showing how I work create my stencils and work with inks.

This is Tuesday 7-9 PM January 25 2011.

if you are in the area hope you will come by and participate.

Nancy

Creating Depth - VII -- It's in the Blues

We have examined a number of ways of creating depth that artists use to create dimensionality on a flat surface. Some other techniques for creating depth were not needed in Rose Has Got Some Hips. So I will use other examples to illustrate.

Here is a detail shot of a new piece where I challenged myself to create layers of depth with greens. It is easy to see the use of warmer greens and cooler greens. But I also moved the greens in the back to blue-green to push them further back. There is also shading and it also goes to the blue-green end of the spectrum.

One spike needed to be forward of the blue-green back spike and behind some of the more forward yellow-green spikes, so I reduced its intensity by using some gray over the blue-green. Less intense (grayed or shaded) colors will also recede.

My friend, Holly, does tapestries of the Blue Ridge Mountains, and often uses these blue-greens and blue-grays to move the mountains back layer by layer on the visual plane. As we look through the air towards a distant object, the most distant ones will tend to go more blue and blue gray so the phenomena is called "atmospheric" perception.

Another element of depth we have looked at already is relative warmth and coolness of colors. Normally the reddish purple of the background around these spikes would be considered warm, but next to the yellow-orange background and stem areas, it is a cool color and recedes behind the stems and spikes.

Color is a lot fun, and provides lots of challenges. Part of the reason I love working with Heidi Stoll-Weber hand-dyed fabrics, is that the existing colors will always give some challenges in creating my designs on top of the fabric. It is more of a challenge, because the Tsukineko inks are basically transparent, so the background of the fabric will come through.

Happy quilting and thanks for reading,

Nancy

Creating Depth - VI - Quilters' Tools

Creating Actual Depth

Quilters' have the opportunity to create depth in several different ways. One technique I use is trapunto. Here is the reverse side of the top. Once the piece is quilted, these padded areas will have a definite additional dimension to them.




The two rose hips and just the tip of the small bent leaf have one layer of batting. I pinned a layer of the batting to the back of the top and sewed around the hips and the tip of the leaf.




I wanted some dimensional work inside the hips. I sewed between the two hips and then at the end of the hip where there is an indentation where the stamens were. I can increase the depth of these areas by sewing them again when they are quilted, or leave them unquilted for only small indentations.




Quilters can change the amount of depth by choosing some areas that are left unquilted and some areas that are densely quilted. We have more options that some other artists do for creating a sense of depth in our work.



The impact that the quilt line gives is largely why I love quilting rather than painting.



Nancy

Creating Depth with Color- V

Power with Warm and Cool Colors

Different colors have an amazing property that makes some colors come forward on the picture plane and some drop back, or recede on the picture plane. Artists can use these properties to select colors to convey what they envision.

Reds, oranges, yellows are warm and will jump forward visually; think of yellow jonquils, orange pumpkins, red and orange fall leaves. Blues, greens, purples will recede, think watery depths and deep blue skies. Note how the word Warm pops out and the word Cool recedes in comparison.


The rose hip on the left comes forward in part because it is a warmer red than the right hip. There is some orange in the left hip, especially in the area that is closest to the viewer. There is a bluer tone to the right hip. Even red can be more or less warm or cool as in this example. Using this can really help put objects or elements in the art in the right visual plane.


On the photo of the leaves, I used the coolest colors (blue green with some violet) on the bottom leaf and that helps it to visually recede. The warmest colors (orange) are on the top leaf to help it pop forward. The middle leaf is moderately warm (yellow green).

Note that I also used a change in warm and cool colors for the shadows to further differentiate between the bottom two leaves.

The little leaf on the rose hip is helped to convey the bend in the leaf by creating a cooler color (blue green) on the leaf next to the hip and the point of the leaf is much warmer ( yellow green) than the rest of the leaf.

Readers, thanks for reading and your comments and questions.


Nancy

More Color Resources

Angela R McIntyre wrote me that she had researched color schemes, color theory and color wheel sites and tutorials. She was kind enough to share these and to give permission for me to share them on my blog.

Here is her memo. Please send her thanks.

Nancy

--- On Tue, 1/4/11, AMcQuilts@aol.com wrote: a while back I did some research on color wheels, online color theory classes and tutorials, and color theme generators.

Here are a few sites I found that you all my be interested in:

Real Color Wheel by Don Jusko, new page Color Scheme, Colour Scheme Chooser Tool - Monochromatic, Analogic, Complimentary, Split Complementary, Triadic, Double Contras kuler color themes

Art Deco Color Palettes - Art Deco Era Color Combinations Color Scheme Designer 3 this is my favorite, and they have upgraded it too!

Multicolr Search Lab - Idée Inc. this is actually to search for images with a predominant color theme, quite useful!

Color Theory Tutorial by Worqx good info

Basic color schemes: Color Theory Introduction lots more good info there is SO much on the web, we are very lucky to be able to access so much information right at our fingertips! hope this is helpful to some of you.

Angela R McIntyre Laughing Cat Designs Website Laughing Cat Designs Blog

Creating Depth with Shading - Part IV

Using Value to Establish Depth

The first stage of applying color to the quilt top is to establish where the light is coming from. In this case, the light is from the upper left. That helps me to establish where shadows might be and where highlights will be.

The rose hips are rounded by changing value around each hip so that the lighter area is the rounded areas closest to the viewer, and the darker areas are to the back of the hip.

To reinforce the viewer's understanding that the left hip is in front of the right hip, the right hip is slightly darker than the left hip, it has a shadow on the left side caused by the left hip.

The shadow was created using a shade of red, that is red with a little black in it and also a bit of green to dull it just a bit. The use of the complementary color will dull the color it is applied to.


Notice there are also shadows on the upper right leaves to help convey which leaves are on top, middle and bottom.

Next time we will look at how the degree of warmth or coolness effects depth.


Nancy

Creating Depth -- Part III

The first step in creating depth is in the initial design work. Overlapping images is a very basic tool that those of us with Western art perspectives probably all understand how to interpret. Eastern art uses different techniques.

In this case the left rose hip is in front of the right rose hip. At the top right, the leaves are on three slightly different levels, the larger left leaf is in front, the partial leaf in the right corner is between the top left leaf and the lower bottom leaf.

Since this photo was taken, I added a small leaflet onto the front of the underdeveloped rose hip.


As I work with the inks, I will need to remember which leaves are in front, and consider how to make the leaf on the undeveloped rose hip appear to be in front of the hip.

The colors I choose can either make the image confusing or carry the initial design forward.

If you are an abstract artist, this may seem like it does not apply to your work, but it helps to know what makes areas move forward and move back in the visual plane so you can choose what you want it to do in your art.

Next time we will look at color choices and how they change the depth perception.


Nancy