After a short but refreshing break away, I returned to my workroom this week & got straight into my weekly art practise. Once again I was drawn to the Temple of Khun in Esna & the lotus pillars, which were different in style from those I'd seen elsewhere. What impressed me about this one, was that colour was still evident. I also liked the way the lotuses were placed in rows to create a border, as well as some height & interest alongside the feather-like leaves. I was also intrigued by the barely visible painted patterns between the lowest row of lotuses.
Over the past few WAP's I've been experimenting with using the top level of my 'sandwich' of fabric layers as background or outline for my contemporary reverse applique designs. For this week's project I want to complete this sub-theme by using that first layer as both, within the one design.
For a change, I used felt tip markers to make my visual notes today. It is quite interesting using colour immediately & seeing the way different colours, even in this quick & sketchy stage, interact with each other. It was also a good exercise to practice using a colour other than black as an outline from the start.
The design had been developed, drawn up to A5 size, the fabrics were chosen, cut & ironed before layering up & stitching. It was time to now begin cutting back!
Over the past few weeks the colour in my WAP designs have been very flat, with little textural interest. This has resulted in a more graphic style, which has been the intent. This time however, I wanted to keep the colour flat, but introduce a bit more texture into my fabric choices. Therefore, the 'white' layer was a heavy hessian weave curtain sample.
Alas...the fabric swatch was not big enough to fit a complete piece under the other layers as I would have liked, so I had to cut pieces to the approximate size & carefully place under the top layer in the appropriate spot before securing them with the outline stitching.
The difficulty with placing small pieces of that thicker fabric so high up in the stack of layers, is that it showed & created a white line when I cut back to other layers. Whilst this is ok for an experimental piece like this, for a more finished presentation it would have looked better as the lowest layer....which is where it would have been if it had been a bigger piece of fabric!!
It is hard to see in this photo, but the red fabric is covered in gold glitter, which attracts the light & sparkles!!
It is hard to see in this photo, but the mustard yellow fabric has a pattern of looser woven squares throughout it.
The finished piece, embellished with a little stitching & a few beads. I'm quite pleased with it & think that using the topmost layer as outline, filler & background components within the same design has proven to be quite effective. Next week I'll move on from Esna & I think it's time to move on from such flat designs as well!Before I go though, here's what this design looked like when treated in my layout app!
Creating is such fun!
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