Recently I found a
photo taken in 2006 of our two youngest grandsons, Locke and Dawson. The cousins (then 3 and 2) are sitting on
wooden steps that lead up to a big, wrap-around porch on a house we had rented
on Lake Michigan to celebrate our bachelor son Rob’s 40th birthday.
I realized that this would make a good image to depict friendship.
I have long wanted
to try my hand at screen printing. So I
emailed the image, which I had converted to black and white, to a good friend
who has a Thermofax machine. She graciously made a screen for me from this photo, after manipulating the image herself on
Photoshop. After many trial runs, I
finally got a print I that I liked, using acrylic fabric paint.
Soon after doing
the screen print, my husband and I saw field after field of sunflowers on a drive home, south of Ft. Worth. Several days later a sunflower-fields image
appeared in the Waco Tribune-Herald. The
photographer was staff photographer Rod
Aydelotte, whose work I have long admired.
I got in touch with the newspaper and received permission to purchase a
copy of the photograph and to use it in this quilt. Thanks, Rod and the Tribune-Herald!
But how to make the
screen print of the little boys and the photo of the sunflowers work together? On the internet I learned that the color yellow is associated with friendship.
Perfect!
The sunflower photo
is transferred to fabric using TAP, Transfer Artist Paper. The sunflower at the
bottom is a silk flower that I cut up and tacked to the quilt. The images on the quilt are fused onto batik
using Misty Fuse. The quilt is hand
quilted using the running stitch with red perle cotton thread. More of the same batik is used to back and to
bind the quilt.
Not wanting to neglect
our other two grandchildren, the older two (Lia and Malcolm), who are ALSO good
friends, I have reproduced some other photos, another taken also at Lake Michigan in
‘06, on the back of this quilt. I used TAP for the top two images, the color version of
the front screen-printed one and another of the children with their Uncle
Rob. The other photo (printed onto June
Taylor Computer Printer Fabric) was taken in Waco at a museum the children
adore. These are all fused on top of a
piece of ExtraOrganza by Jacquard, which has been printed with the sub-title of
this quilt typed in many different fonts.
I think all the photos illustrate that saying very well! So now I have a two-sided quilt!
 |
| The quilt's back |
Wow Alice!!!! This is lovely! The colors are great together, and your black and white conversion of the original photo is fabulous. It really gets to the heart of what you wanted to show - friendship. It's not easy to do a graphic conversion and keep it looking like an illustration, and you did it perfecty! I also love the way you integrated the field of flowers, the flower patterned fabric and the large flower, and keeping the kids in black and white kept the focus on the children. This is my favorite MM Quilt that you have done. Brilliant!!!!
ReplyDeleteLois, thanks so much! As you can imagine, my quilt has deep personal & sentimental value, but for an artist to appreciate it artistically means much to me!
DeleteI do love the composition of this piece. The black and white makes the friends stand out as the focus and the addition of the yellow sunflowers is nice! The background fabric complements both nicely too. Again, another very personal intrepretation by you.
ReplyDeleteSimplicity speaks volumes! I love what you have created on both sides of your quilt. I did not know that there even was a color for friendship so your use of yellow and the photograph of the sunflowers is perfect. Great fun to see the photo transfer that the screen print was made from.
ReplyDeleteThis piece is just lovely and the sentiments that go with it are too. I also did not know about a color for friendship, good information for me to keep tucked away for a rainy day.
ReplyDeleteI like the words in the background on the back of the piece too.
Cousins! What a perfect tribute to friendship! Jerry and I saw fields and fields of sunflowers on a recent trip to Austin. They are perfect for your quilt - and I was delighted to learn that yellow - so full of life - is the color of friendship! Love the silk screen and the photos on the back - glad you included one of Rob! Lovely!!!
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful quilt - front and back! Cousins are so important. It just love your quilt and use of different techniques.
ReplyDeleteColor me happy! Yellow, cousins, friendship...I have to echo what Lois said. The composition of this quilt is fabulous. I admire your bravery in using new techniques.
ReplyDeleteSeveral people I know saw this field including my husband on his way back from Tyler. Your quilt is beautiful. I wish we had classes on some of the techniques all of you talk about. I too think this is my favorite quilt of yours.
ReplyDeleteAlice I really admire the way you have created such a deeply personal quilt that speaks its theme so well. You did a great job compositionally in the way you tied the elements together and have 2 great compositions
ReplyDeleteWonderful, Alice --- so sweet! It reminds me of my two 12 year old grandsons. If I could, I would do something like you did with my favorite picture of them.
ReplyDeleteHI Alice - "Charming" is the first word that came to my mind ! I love the way you included family and friends; your use of so many different techniques; and how you were able to reach out to others for resource help (Newspaper photograph, and silk screen assistance !) Great piece :-)
ReplyDeleteAlice, This little quilt will be a keepsake for your grandchildren for many years after this one. It will always insure that they remember you fondly. It is adorable!
ReplyDeleteAlice, you never cease to amaze. You have the best sense of design. And the color is fabulous. Thanks for everything!
ReplyDelete