Au Printemps – a la Matisse
When presented with a challenge to make a quilt 1) to honor Spring’s arrival and 2) to do so in the style of a chosen artist, I decided to create a Spring homage to Matisse.
As Matisse grew older (he lived almost to his 85th birthday), and his health declined, he developed ways to make art even when he was unable to leave his bed and stand at an easel. He painted paper with gouache using various brush techniques. He then free cut the shapes he envisioned from these painted papers and incorporated them in his art.
For this quilt I attempted to emulate Matisse’ process by painting pieces of stabilized white cotton cloth with gouache – one color per piece of cloth. I then free cut shapes that I had previously worked out with sketch according to the scene that I envisioned. I pinned my shapes in place – in layers – then stitched the shapes in place, added some batting and quilted the piece.
Guila's Art & Other Assorted Joys 