I am starting to prepare to cut fabric pieces for my new work, “Heirloom Pumpkins.” I researched the varieties in my photo, and discovered a great, big world of heirloom pumpkins with intriguing names like “Long Island Cheese,” “Cinderella,” “Red Kuri,” and “Jarrahdale.” There are heirloom varieties from Australia, France, Japan and New Zealand that are now common at farm markets near me. If you are interested in learning more, the website The Daily Green has great information and photos. What wonderful biodiversity there is in my favorite squash!
This is the second of two projects I am designing specifically for my Once in a Blue Moon Fiber Art Retreat, which will be held in Black Mountain, NC (near Asheville) Oct. 4-7, 2012. I just finished “Passion Flower,” which is the other project. You can read all about it in my previous posts.
The varieties in my photo appear to be Fairytale (the orange one in the foreground), Muscade de Provence (the green/orange one behind the Fairytale to the right), and Lumina (the white ones in the background).
I started digging in my bins of hand-dyes and batik fabrics, and found a good range of oranges, browns, whites, grays and blacks that I think will work. Instead of using beige or pale yellow for the wall, I'm going with a blue-gray that I think will be a nicer color combination with the oranges and whites. You can see it in the upper right, above my pattern.
I’m sure I won’t use all of these fabrics, but I like to have a good range of values and colors before I start, so I have a bigger selection. I’ll start by finding a good medium value orange fabric, for example, and then find values lighter and darker, but in the same color family.
The photo below shows some of the whites, grays and tans I'll use on the other pumpkins. The light wasn’t so great on this photo, but it still looks like I’ll need to find a lighter white to use on the lightest white pumpkins in the back.
Okay, I'm off to start cutting out the pieces! I’ll post again when I have something to show you.
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Seeing your drawing on paper, makes me think that if I used muslim for a backing, I could draw out my design first, then have the placements all set. I am bad with placement so that might be an easier way for me, since most of my art turns into folk art;)
ReplyDeleteDebbie
Muslin might work, Debbie. I find that using a positioning overlay made from clear upholstery vinyl helps me; that way the lines are always visible, even after you position the pieces. If you drew them on the background, they'd get covered up and you might not know if the pieces were in the right place.
ReplyDeleteVery very nice. I want to create a "photo collage" with photographs of my dogs with a crewel embroidered rabbit driving them crazy - it's in my head forever, but I need to get it down on paper and into fabric. Love to see what you do!
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