A few months ago, I put together a little how-to worksheet on approaching landscape quilting. Most of it is based on my own personal process of developing and implementing an idea. A lot of it is my memories of what I wish I’d known when starting out. I still use it (or something more refined, yet similar) when I have an idea that needs more oomph or a glimmer of inspiration that requires more systematic thinking through. Thought I’d post it here, in case anyone else found it helpful. Parts one and three complete the series.
Thinking and Rethinking:
Visual tools that can help:
- define edges
- create movement
- make contours
- provide texture
There are actual lines in a piece (the horizon, a fence, a rooftop, a tall building, etc.) and there are implied lines (a river wending through a forest, a receding line of trees, a shoreline).
Calmness is achieved through horizontal lines. This is accentuated through shaping the whole piece horizontally.
Strength and power are shown through vertical lines. This is accentuated through shaping the piece vertically.
Diagonal lines create a sense of movement, as can curved lines. Curved lines tend to create more varied, but more gentle movement. Diagonals tend to be quite dynamic. Even a calm piece can use an implied diagonal line to create visual interest and to make the eye move through the piece.
What mood are you trying to convey and how can you use lines in your piece to convey it?
Which way do you want the viewer’s eye to travel? Left to right? Right to left? Right, left and right again? Up?
3. Colour & value
Colours not only create unity and contrast, but they convey mood, emotion and help to indicate proximity.
Warm colours (reds or colours with red in them) generally feel closer than do blue colours. Darker colours feel closer than lighter colours. For harmony, pick colours that lie side-by-side on the colour wheel (yellow and orange, orange and red, purple and blue). Picking colours that clash works well to draw the eye to a particular spot (a white house with a red door, for instance)
What are the dominant colours in your piece going to be and how will you use accents to draw attention? Do you want the eye to travel into the distance in the piece (therefore requiring progressively lighter colours)? Do you want the focal point to be closer? Would colour choice help to achieve this?
4. Scale and proportion
How big is your piece going to be? The Golden Mean (8:13 ratio) is a handy chart with which to decide on proportion. It is based on a very old calculation which seems to consistently give proportions which are pleasing to the eye. A piece 12” on one side would be 19.5” on another and vice versa, for instance (24”x39”, 18”x29.25” and so forth).
Within the parameters of your piece, will your depicted objects look well-sized? A huge cliff in a small frame will look out of place. Think about how big your focal object will be.
One of the blessings of quilting is that you get to work in three dimensions. Not only do you have the ability to use the tools that painters use (line, shape, colour, value, proportion, etc.) to create a feeling of dimensionality, but you can be a sculptor too. You can manipulate the fabric to actually make a bump or a ridge. Embellishment with embroidery, the addition of layers and even simple quilting lines can add physical depth to a visually deep piece.