Finally Passed Through the Creative Block

Being in Limbo IS purgatory for me. Between projects drives me crazy. This has been an unusual year with the Guild show coming up fast now and doing five pieces for shows rather than for me. It's not a question of being outside my comfort zone, it's that the inspiration wasn't necessarily mine. This is a problem I have when I accept custom work too.

So I was glad to have been given a quilt to make show ready. It takes my mind off my BLOCK. It's coming along. It's about half finished. I'm quilting what I call boxed pebbles. It's a tad fiddly and requires focus. Just what I needed to stop monkey minding over my art quilts.

I DO have a project I was avoiding. And funny enough it was my input that got this one selected.
Light.
I've been aware for quite awhile that the lighting in most of my work is  "bright overcast" day. No real shadows or contrasts. There are lots of books that address and in fact my own guild has an extensive library that covers this point. But most of the solutions there involve careful cutting and inserting lighter values. I've grown away from a lot of seams in my work opting for raw applique. Whether that's a good thing is up for debate but that's what prompted this dilemma. No contrast.

It probably doesn't speak well for me when I feel I need to produce pieces with commercial value. But its a real restraint. So in response to my Landscape group's decision to choose a photo with back lighting, I hunted until I found a recent "Weather Channel" fawn. It has back light.
I didn't want to do this as a 8x10, and I didn't think it would look its best if I enlarged the fawn to 24x36, so I decided to expand the background.
I ended with two photos in addition to the fawn and my goal was to join them.
And use my own fabric.

I did have a piece from last summer with bright yellows and greens so I decided to start with that. But I was far from happy. Pairing it with commercial fabric just left me cold.
So it went up on the wall to be ignored and stared at while I worked on the king size quilt.

I finally came to the decision the only way to marry the whole thing was to Thread Paint the entire piece. I can honestly say I don't think I've EVER done that.
But I dove in today, (after 2 hours on the Quilt.....getting up my nerve I think) and I have finished the yellows.

About 10 shades of thread in colours from taupe to pale yellow green were used. I used a lot of plain thread as opposed to embroidery thread as it has no gloss. Where I did have to use the glossy thread I over stitched it to bring down the shine.

The next step is to finish the green in the background. The trees also need more treatment but I'm happier now.