If you've read my past posts on this blog you know I've been talking about art quilting, landscape quilts, painted quilts, and pictorial quilts for quite some time. You may even have been thinking, "Get on with it, already!" Well, I'm happy to report I finally did complete the project for the Craftsy Painted Pictorial Quilts class!
Here is the Calla Lily painted quilt. Fabric pieces were cut to fit the pattern provided by Annette Kennedy, ironed onto a background batik using fusible webbing, and then painted with transparent fabric paints to add depth and dimension to the flat fabric. After painting, the piece is sandwiched and quilted to add texture. The 'before' and 'after' photos (shown below) are quite dramatic and it's amazing what the addition of the paint can add to the piece.
I was humbled by my first experience painting on fabric. The paint does not blend as easily as it does on canvas or paper and took a bit of experimenting to get right. While my project doesn't look exactly as the sample by the instructor (hers was much more lemon in colour), I am very pleased with the results. It was hard to know when to stop painting as a bit more shadowing here and bit more definition there, was my continual thought process.
I was really intimidated to make that first brush-stroke and each paint colour had to be custom mixed at the time - a bit of a daunting task for a newbie! I am very excited to now take my new knowledge and apply it to my own creation. I think I've always done better when I can produce my own art rather than trying to duplicate someone else's piece. I believe that is the nature of art anyway - creating YOUR OWN interpretation of whatever you see or are trying to convey; simply attempting to mimic someone else's vision just doesn't work!
I enjoyed using my new supplies on this project - the professional brushes I invested in are divine! The paint is quite nice too and easy to
work with in terms of blending and applying and I have LOTS of paint to use. (I of course purchased all the required/recommended supplies and have way more than I needed for the calla lily.)
There is a second project to paint in the Painted Pictorial Quilts class, a desert landscape, but I think I'm going to skip that assigment and jump right into my own landscape quilt. I'm now excited to get going on that project...but be patient with me!
If you are interested in painting art quilts I highly recommend this class. Annette Kennedy is so lovely and calm. She's a very good instructor and so relaxed as she demonstrates not only how to paint, but her thought processes as she paints. While some found the class to be a little sleepy, I can appreciate how this kind of lesson is very interpretive and can only be demonstrated in the way the artist works herself. I'm sure Annette would agree that this is only the practice point on a journey to your masterpiece; the path to learning to express yourself through art takes practice and creativity and learning the mechanical techniques only goes so far. That being said, I found the instruction to be very thorough and really helpful when deciding where to apply paint to achieve the desired effect. I hope I can now bring that to my own work without being told what colour goes where!
Here are the before & after shots. If you're interested in learning more about this class simply click on the link to the right and it will take you right there. You can watch the previews and see the other student's projects & reviews.
This is gorgeous, Angie! Turned out very well. I haven't attempted this project yet - not sure if I would really enjoy painting on fabric, but wanted to see Annette's technique. You should be very proud of your project - so lovely.
Posted by: Kim | October 12, 2012 at 05:55 PM
WOW! I love it! I can't wait to see your next one.
Posted by: Maureen | October 13, 2012 at 03:10 PM