Good News and Very Good News

First the Good News:  I have just finished updating our website with the latest challenge pieces.  This has been the best job ever as I have had to see the images really close-up while editing them ready for the website.  All I can say is WOW!  The detail, quilting, the design work and techniques, the media used and the choices everyone has made are stunning.  Please check the website for any glitches and let me know if anything isn't working as it should.

The Very Good News is that we have a new 12th member.  I would like to introduce Mai Britt Axelsen to you.  Some of you will already know Mai Britt as she is an award winning quilter and member of Contemporary Quilt.  She is Danish and lives with her husband on Guernsey in the Channel Islands.  I have rounded up a few images of her work.  Mai Britt will be joining in the Hundertwasser challenge.

Welcome to the group, Mai Britt.

Hilary

PS  That's another country to add to our list!

       

   

     

      

  

 

Shipley Canal

I am so sorry that I have been late with this challenge.  When I first saw the work of the artist I was excited and thought it right up my street.  Oh dear, I really over extended myself.  I was way too ambitious.  It has been a long haul on top of too much going on in my life but I am happy with the result - thank you for indulging me.
My piece is based on a photo I took walking along the canal on my way to a textile exhibition at Salts Mill, Saltaire, Yorkshire.  When I saw Sheeler's painting I immediately remembered the lovely walk I had.  I have always loved architecture and industrial in particular.  Must be all those lines and shapes.  The area (west of Bradford) used to be the centre of the woollen industry and the canal is lined with mills and chimneys. 
I ummed and aahed about whether to use colour, then thought of black and white like a photograph but my fabric selection had big gaps. I settled on a sepia look as it reflects the aging, decaying buildings - although there are signs of regeneration and life returning. It is fused, stitched and with a little paint.

Charles Sheeler - Amoskeag Mills

 

Shipley Canal - Yorkshire, UK

Shipley Canal as Sheeler may have painted it

 Hilary

Heather in the spotlight

Heather has asked me to pass on a message and I do it with pleasure and a certain amount of pride that one of our past members is doing so well.

"Former 12 by the dozen member Heather Dubreuil is pleased to have an 8-page spread in the Winter 2017 edition of Art Quilting Studio, an American magazine. In the article, she credits the 12 by the dozen group for inspiring her Cityscapes series."


If you would like to read about the article on Heather's blog here is the link:

http://tinyurl.com/jtl4qbp

Thank you, Heather, for giving the group credit for helping in your journey.  We will always enjoy hearing of your successes and adventures in the world of art.

Hilary

Charles at Waikari Station, NZ

I decided to continue using my photos from NZ, and from the moment I saw Charles Sheeler's work I had a specific pair of photos in mind.  These were taken on the Weka Pass Railway and were of the Waikari Station, just north of Christchurch.

 

My chosen picture from Sheeler was an obvious choice, it was probably the whole reason I choose him as our next artist.

I loved the way he had played with perspective and overlaid the features.  So here's my version:

It was a lot harder than I expected to combine the images to produce something that worked, but I'm very pleased with the final result, even though it's not completely finished yet (binding still to be sewn down).  I chose to do minimal quilting, just round the lines using an invisible thread.  I still think that was the right decision, but I'd be interested in other suggestions.

...... & the next artist is

'HUNDERTWASSER'

Friedrensreich Hundertwasser (1928 - 2000) 

He was fascinated by spirals & had a dislike for straight lines which he described as 'the devil's tools' & 'godless & immoral. His work has been described as Transautomatism, a kind of Surrealism, focusing on fantasy. 

His work was not limited to architecture but he also made graphic work, lithographs, silk screen printings, etchings & woodcuts.

Much of his work is based on architecture & dominated by linear structures, with bright, intense colour, often using complementary colours with the addition of gold & silver, pasted on in thin foil. The work has simple organic form, with the same kinds of shape repeated again & again. Lines meander around shape, eyes loom out of landscapes & trees adorn rooftops.

Extracts from the book by Janet Edmond's called 'From Art to Stitch'