Thursday, April 06, 2006

Ferns + Feathers Revisited


Several months ago I put this quilted piece up on my blog asking for suggestions as to how to proceed. It looked (and still does) like wallpaper to me and I want to create a dramatic focal point. I had placed various objects, mostly more/larger feathers and ferns, on the top but nothing satisfied me or anyone else, for that matter.

Recently I've brought the piece back out of hiding and have simply allowed it to be at the outer edges of my environment as I am healing from surgery. I love the colors and the quilting in the piece, but it needs a strong focal point, a sense of design and composition... With those things in mind, I decided something colorful like parrots, parakeets, etc. might serve my purposes. After exploring the web for awhile, I came across several photos of Australian Rainbow Lorikeets and decided they would potentially be a very dramatic addition to this work.

Here are some of my preliminary sketches:




I like the flying Lorikeet best - and I like the possiblity of the bird flying off the top of the quilt. I can't imagine how the composition will balance out, at the moment, but at least I'm having fun considering options.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I like that piece. I thought you had already got a bird in there (poor eyesight, sorry)where the leaf is stitched in brown (?) next to the fern print. (Middle, just below the half way mark). can you do something with that at all? perhaps I have a fanciful imagination :(

Gerrie said...

I love that idea! Can't wait to see it evolve!

Karoda said...

yeap, the flying bird will add a sense of wind or breezes to the leaves!

Jen said...

I like the flying bird best too. Can't wait to see how it turns out. Jen

Deborah Boschert said...

Ah, some distance did the trick. I love this idea.

Unknown said...

I like the flying Lori too. I've always loved those birds! Get well soon.

Anonymous said...

Funny, before I scrolled down I pictured the piece with little faces peeking out (like fairies) but I love the idea of the Lorikeets. I have one with conures on the design board for a friend in Boca Raton.....there are several flocks of escaped conures in the Boynton Beach area that I see when out and about...so pretty but boy is their call raucous.....Can't wait to see where you go with this....

teri