Photographs this week: the magnificent sky

Photos I captured at my home early in the morning last week.  

Light + clouds = A magnificent sky 

I am a featured artist

I have been featured on

 'Tell it all Tuesday' 

on Jennibellie's blog.

 See the post here

Jenny is an amazing art journal artist.  

She has some amazing work.  

Pop over and have a look :)

Photographs of roses

After 3 days of tummy bugs in our house my sweet man brought me home a beautiful bouquet of roses.  I love roses the smells,  the way they look and the meaning behind them.  It was just what I needed after a few very LOOOOONNGGGG days.

Textures for backgrounds of art quilts

The foreground/subject is very important in an art quilt.  It is what draws the viewer in and  grabs their attention.  It is the main story or idea.  Equally important is the background of the piece of art, The background anchors the art, add more interest and draws the viewer in more. Its other job is to make the the subject or main focus shine.  

When creating art I spend as much time planning the main subject as well as the background.  It is so important to treat the art work as a whole. In my new series The small details of family life I have been creating different textures to use in the background of my work.  They will need auditioning but it is a good idea to have a collection of ideas to choose from when beginning a series. 

Large prints can be used with brighter colours.

Or very small prints with graduated colour.

A variety of colour could be used with a more subtle print.

A lot of subtle self coloured texture

or a far more prominent  design.

A mono chromatic colour scheme

A more bold scheme

Larger prints and swirls

Lots of visual texture created with stamps on the first layers and printing with textured card and plastic on the upper layers

A light an bright colour way

A more organic feel with more contrasting colours.

Which ever background is used it is important that that it enhances the main subject and doesn't take away from it.  

Photos this week

Last Saturday friends of ours got married.  It was a lovely day. 

 I was asked to make the Wedding cake.  

She chose a white and purple theme.  

The cake was chocolate mud cake iced with sugar paste.

 Here are the results!!

It was yummy!!!

New quilting series

I am starting a new series of work. The designs are being drawn the ideas are flowing and life is grand.

Welcome to the process and development of the series

Small details of family life

I would love you to be involved in the process! 

Would you answer for me.....

What are the small details of family life that you love? 

What makes your family tick?

What do you do with your family that is special and meaningful?

Family to me is......

Sharing food

Dressing up and going out together

Laughter

Being together

Reading together

 and sharing jokes.

What is it for you?

Using close up photography in quilt design.

I love capturing the details of flora and fauna.  The teeny tiny stamens,  droplets of water and the veining of the petals.  It takes be back to children's T.V. show Sesame Street  when they would show the viewers part of the object and you would have to guess what the object was.  I loved the challenge it brought to my sometimes very bored brain and I loved to see up close the details that so often we miss doing the daily grind.

When taking photos up close you need to use the close up button on your camera.   To get even closer a macro lens would be useful.   They are very expensive.  The other option is a attachment that connects the front of the lens to the camera (i.e reversing the lens around).  I went for a Macro lens attachment that screws onto the front of my cameras.  It doesn't come as close as a macro lens but it is still very good.

Frost on a leaf

When doing close ups try taking the photo from different angles,  different distances and different parts of the subject.

A camellia

A rose

Centre of a lily

Centre of a lily

Palm leaf

Droplets of water in pine needles

Veins on leaf

Try taking the photos outside and inside using different positions of light.  

Try taking outside photos at different times of the day,  

in different types of weather 

and in different seasons. 

Getting up close to a subject changes how we view it.  The veins become more visible,  the petals more structured.  Our perception changes.   

Close-up photos are a good to use in quilt design.  The camera has eliminated outside distractions and focuses more on the structure rather than the subject. 

Look closely at each of the photos.  

What do you see?  

Are there any lines that could transfer into a quilting line? 

Are there any shapes that could be cut out and appliquéd onto another fabric? 

Is there a colour way that could be used in an abstract quilt?

Are there textures that work well next to each other?

Crop even closer........What do you see now?

Change the hue and saturation.  What do you see now?

Change it to blue and darken.  How has it changed?  

Make it black and white.  What elements have become more visible?

Crop in closer on a different part of the leaf and change to a sepia colour way. How could you use this on a quilt?

Photographs can be used in many ways to make original designs.  By experimenting with camera settings and editing programmes design can become more interesting and unique.