Most of the art quilts that I’ve been making have been fairly free form. So I wanted to try my hand at a Still Life. I wanted it to be vibrant with color and simple in design. The fabrics that I chose would be very important.
First, not knowing which veggies would make the final cut, I went to the refrigerator to see what was available. I arranged various combinations on a cutting board and ended up with something that looked pleasing. I photographed them as I went along to get various perspectives. When I was satisfied I made a print in the size that I wanted to sew and prepared templates. I adhered a clear piece of laminating film to the printed design and cut the shapes that I wanted to use.
For the first time I went to my little stash of hand dyes and selected the veggie fabrics. Believe me when I say this was a really big deal. This is my holy grail of fabric.
I found pieces amongst my commercial stash that would work for the background and the cutting board.
Once I had the composition in place I decided that some highlights were needed on the veggies. I added these with Tsukineko Inks, chosen because of the ability to readily control the amount and depth of the color to be added.
I machine quilted to add texture and interest.
As I said earlier it’s quite different from what I usually do – do you like it?
Guila's Art & Other Assorted Joys 