Sunday, June 24, 2007

What does this say about me?

YesterdayI finished a wallhanging and decided to hang it in my sewing room. It was while I was hanging it that I noticed something about my quilts that had not really struck me before. I tend to put black and white in alot of my quilts. Especially those that are very scrappy and colorful. It has been totally unintentional.



But just look at some of these quilts that I have hanging in my sewing room in addition to my new autograph quilt.


And a few more that I made that I no longer own.

And I will also admit to having at least one more top ready to be quilted(as yet unphotgraphed) that also has the black and white added to bright scrappy colors.


And I also have a nine patch quilt top in the works that is scrappy nines with black and white pieced sashing blocks. Plus a couple stacks of black and white blocks and black/white/red blocks waiting to be made into tops.



As you can see, there is definitely a trend here. So what I want to know is, what does this say about me? Am I in a rut? Does this show a lack of creativity because I keep adding the same elements into my quilts? Or should I perhaps consider this more as a signature feature to my quilts? All I can figure is that I must really love the effect, because I keep repeating it. And, now that I realize I am doing this, should I make an effort to stop? Or should I continue to just go where my spirit leads me when I work on my quilts? What would you do?

3 comments:

Rose said...

Go where your spirit leads! These are definitely beautiful creations. If it ain't broke, why fix it?

Kathleen said...

I think you are developing a personal style, as is completely natural, being the artist you are. Having a style can separate you from others and also make your work more recognizable and cohesive. It can make them look wonderful displayed together, as it looks like it is happening in your sewing room. I don't think it means you are in a rut at all.

But, if you want to do something different intentionally for a special challenge, on your next scrappy quilt, maybe you could deliberately NOT put any black and white in it and see how you like it. But also, do an even bigger gesture by also doing something else different from your adapted style, other than just omiting black and white. I'm not sure how though. Or, do the opposite. Really emphasize and exaggerate the black and white, and demphasize the color?

Anonymous said...

I too, love to work in those colors. Not only are they stunning to look at, they are very easy to put together - black and white, mixed with bright colors seems to go together with almost no effort at all. My problem with making quilts in that style is that they don't match with anything in my house. As a result I have several bright, colorful quilts that have no home.

LJ

(P.S. - I have plans to make a kaliedascope quilt similar to yours sometimes in the near future, I hope you don't mind being my inspiration.)