In Southern Utah the temperatures run in the triple digits for much of July and August. Although my husband and I escape for a week at a time to Colorado, we have to keep the lawn and garden alive, so when are at home we get out early and hibernate in the afternoon. 

 There is an upside to this season; studio time. I have been very productive this past two months. I have completed five larger quilts and am close to finishing my latest quilt of a pond in the Denver Botanic Gardens.

In addition to large quilts I am working on samples for two classes I am teaching in town. I love these little quilts. They remind me how important it is to understand design concepts and to be able to create a pleasing composition. The more samples I make, the more ideas I generate.

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I was making a few still life arrangements when I found that folding small squares of prefused fabric I could cut freehand very whimsical petals and fuse these flowers to a grill matt from Costco. (Yes I happened to get 4 grill matts on sale and decided to try them instead of my small release sheet.) I ended up with a variety of these fun flowers to add to my still life.

Normally I would begin a composition a horizon like or something indicating the edge of a surface (like a table). This is a way to organize the composition and give the viewer a sense of space. After looking at Picasso’s cubist still life “Guitars”  I experimented with eliminating that horizon line and cutting up the background. The result was a more decorative composition.

While creating some small landscape quilts I started looking at my collection of images on my Pinterest board “Art Quilt Landscapes”. One of my pins made me think of a visual problem:

What happens when you exclusively  use fabric with a stripe of strong directional pattern?

This is an easy way to create the illusion of space because the direction of the stripes lead the viewer’s eye into the composition.

I extended this idea of stripes by fusing together different fabrics The fabric below the horizon line were diagonal heading to a single vanishing point. Above the horizon line I took thin prefused fabrics and fused them into curvy lines across the sky. I add a few Van Gogh star shapes.

Looking at fine art, collecting ideas from other art quilters and using an understanding of design concepts produces a never ending stream of projects to create. It also helps to be sure to play and have fun! 

Until next time…….
Margaret