Monday, October 15, 2018

Andrea'a JOY Quilt


Untitled
11" x 14"
stencil, screen printed, hand-dyed cotton, machine quilted

This quilt was inspired by a photo taken on a recent trip to France.  We spent two nights in the very magical town of Colmar, with its cobblestone streets, half-timbered buildings and flowers still in bloom.  No matter which way I turned, I couldn't help but smile.  

Even before starting this quilt ( I had a completely different idea in mind ) I made a line drawing from the photo of what I thought would give a "feel" for the architecture, then made a Thermofax screen of the drawing.  When preparing to do a "test" print of the screen on white fabric, there were small scraps of hand-dyed fabric on my print table and thought, hmmmmm...what would this look like if I place a few of these scraps randomly down and printed on top of them?  Nothing to lose, so I did and really loved it, so decided that this would be the beginning of my Joy quilt instead of my other idea.  Then the overthinking began: "I can't do this, it is just too simple".  OK, what if I add something to the background?  So decided to cut a freezer paper stencil of large run-on words of places and things that give me joy, to print on background which would add another layer.

This is version #3.  #1 was my experiment, #2 was on a light grey linen but the color I stenciled 
the background with was too dark and overpowered the other imagery.  The use of the grey also gave a different "feeling" that I did not like, even though I did like the texture of the linen.  I went back to look at version #1 that gave me so much creative "joy" and realized it was the black imagery on the white background with those few "blips" of color that I had lost by "overthinking"
Simplicity won!


inspiration photo



freezer paper stencil

5 comments:

  1. Andrea, this is Alice! I have to post anonymously, as I'm having problem with Blogger allowing me to comment any other way. Anyway, you've gone to a lot of work, and all your efforts pay off with a striking quilt! I'm so happy for you that your travels bring you JOY!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh Andrea … You know you had me at the mere mention of "Thermofax Screens" ! I still have all my screens, and that large roll of screen "fabric" but alas.... no Thermofax machine in sight :-\ I LOVE the stark simplicity of this piece, and can truly feel the JOY that you experienced during this trip to Paris. Great job !

    ReplyDelete
  3. Love the line drawing of the city and the contrast with the background of your other sources of joy!! Simple yet dramatic presence.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I love your piece. The simplicity is so striking. What fun to create apiece from your recent trip.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Love all of your experimentation Andrea - they rendered a beautiful piece! What a special and lovely tribute to your joyful trip to Paris!

    ReplyDelete