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Sunday 31 May 2015

The White Saucer

I have an ongoing admiration for the art of Ben Nicholson and at first I thought of revisiting my earlier homage to his plain white pieces with circles and squares/rectangles.  My piece below is a whole cloth and 8" square.  I was experimenting with trying to achieve the impression of the different layers by how spaced my stitching was.  The strange thing is that the camera turns the layers round: the stitched areas are 'lower' than the unstitched area.  Two more pieces can be seen here

Homage to Ben Nicholson 01
My next idea was a piece where I was going to use white paint on top of a collaged background inspired by another of his pieces. But what I ended up doing is this piece.
The White Saucer
It is a mixture of piecing and appliqué.  What I learn from his art is mostly composition but also tonal value.  There are commercial cottons, hand-dyes and the wonderful grey/white stripy fabric was a gift from a friend, Margaret, and is a printed version of her journeys on the London Underground where she allowed her pen to jiggle along in her notebook between stations. Really quite pleased with this piece.

Hilary

12 comments:

  1. All your shapes, values and textures come together really well here, Hilary. I love the wavering grey line of Margaret's fabric, and the way your straight, spaced quilting contrasts with it. Can we see the Nicholson piece which inspired it, or was it just loosely based on his body of work?

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  2. Here is a link to the piece - close but with subtle changes.

    https://www.flickr.com/photos/herry/3318911830 (Hope this works)

    Hilary

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  3. Love the Nicholson images, Hilary. Can't help but think that they would make wonderful, large-scale art quilts!

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  4. It did work. You have created a very inspired interpretation! The white saucer really sings in this piece and brings it to life. And I especially adore your white on white piece above. The texture is so delicious and sculptural. A triumph!

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  5. I agree a triumph. Very striking.

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  6. This is a wonderful interpretation of the Ben Nicholson piece - I can see both of you in here!
    I keep flicking from one piece to the other seeing similarities and differences.
    The lessons you say you learned have been used to great advantage!

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  7. I love the way the first piece shows up in the picture. Sometimes if you turn it around the unquilted part pops up, but not in this case. And I like the second piece you posted and the other 2 that you linked too. You have been very busy!

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  8. Wow! I love, love, love your white piece.

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  9. clean pure white
    great interpretation
    brilliant

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  10. Fascinating the way photos can change our interpretation of a picture, in this case reversing the highs and lows. I like both pieces, though I find the composition more interesting in the White Saucer piece. I do find my brain keeps getting focused on the black line, rather than the white saucer though.

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  11. Wow Hilary, it is absolutely beautifully executed and exquisite. Your use of stitching just hits the mark. I absolutely love it.

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  12. I like both of them, though I prefer the saucer one and can see why you're pleased with it.

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