Sunday, February 13, 2011

Daylilies Art Quilt

For the third part of Lesson One in my latest Pamela Allen art quilt class, I was to use the same palette that I used to create the Kirchner color study, and make my own composition.


Kirchner, Flowers, Still Life

This was my first attempt.



I realized after taking the photo that the background at the top was too severe and should not be dividing the space exactly in half.  I was going for a "path of light," which is something I also have been working on in my watercolor paintings.

Leave it to Pamela to point out that the pale gray background did not work to portray the light.  I used a dark blue as a background behind the flowers on the right.  She said that in the light, the dark blue would become a pale blue.  Here is her "tweaked" version.


She converted the white blank space to a window, which would be a source of light.  I had not even imagined this as an interior still life.  But doesn't that solve the problem?  So then, I remembered the principle of phototropism.  Flowers lean toward the source of light.  So I redid the flowers, too.



I am pretty happy with this piece, and will probably stitch and quilt it.

I bought a pair of hiking sandals to take to Hawaii.  They are Keen Whisper sandals. You can't tell in this sunlit photo, but the straps are a pale lime green! 



 I thought I better try them out before we go, so I took Kasey to the sprawling Joyner park in Wake Forest.  I had to wear socks because it was only about 45 degrees F.  It was a gorgeous sunny day without a cloud in the sky.

This park is a former family farm.  There are acres of paved trails that wind through grassy fields, around a pond, along the woods and a creek, and into the old farm house and barns. 



There are many ancient oaks.



Along one section of trails, there is a wonderful low stone fence.  I noticed a pair of bluebirds sunning themselves on the warm stones.  Here is the male.
 
 

As we walked along the trail, he kept moving farther down the wall, until he finally flew to this small tree.



And he kept moving just ahead of us.



In the vast open spaces of this park, they have provided metal benches with interesting shapes.



When I took grandkids Lily and Avery to this park, they didn't like it because there was no playground.  But it certainly is ideal if you want a beautiful place to walk or ride your bike.  I think Kasey would like to go every day because of all the trails and the new smells.  She has her nose to the ground all the time, and snorts like a pig rooting up truffles.  There is a lot of construction at the other end of our street at home.  She got hold of a chicken wing left over from someone's lunch the other day and chomped the whole thing down.



Last night I took her out the front door for "last call" about 11:30 PM.  I was astonished to see a herd of nine deer crossing our yard, one at a time.  Kasey took off after them, but came right back when I called her.  She is a good dog despite her proclivity to eat garbage off the side of the road.   I have never had a dog that would come back until it was good and ready.


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