Auvergne
We spent our summer holiday in a village at 900m (almost 3000ft) near Le Puy en Velay in Auvergne. Every morning as we went along the road, we had a clear view of the mountains receding in the distance, with a thick mist in the valleys. I loved the contrast of the soft greys and the white of the mist, blending into each other, and wanted to try to reproduce the atmosphere by using monoprint when I got home. These two photographs were taken at a different time of day, so the colours are not right, but give an idea of the landscape.
When I saw the hills in Derric van Rensberg's paintings, I thought that perhaps I could try to interpret the Auvergne mountains in a quilt. I love the bright colours used by the artist and I am particulary attracted to the contrast of orange and blue, but these colours really are not so suited to our more northern climate, and definitely not for the image I had in mind. First of all I tried making several prints at a couple of monoprint workshops that I went to. The first one turned out too dark, but the ghost print, to which I tried to add a more interesting sky (didn't really work), was a bit better. At the second session I had some much better prints, but I still have to collect them, as I left them to dry at the studio.
In the end I decided not to monoprint my quilts. Instead I used a torn newspaper stencil, as I like the organic edge it gives, and which worked well for the hills. I did several, as I wasn't sure how well they would come out, intending to choose the best one. I got a little bit carried away, ending up with nine, of which only two were not satisfactory. It was difficult to choose which one to use, as I wasn't entirely satisfied with any of them: I preferred the composition of some, but there wasn't enough contrast between the hills and the mist, but the others had good contrast, but the composition wasn't quite as pleasing. Finally I settled on three,and still have difficulty in choosing between them. I had originally intended to quilt the hills and sky more intensely, but I found that the quilting introduced hard lines that distacted from the effect I wanted to achieve, so they are very sparsely quilted. They were not very easy to photograph. I will probably use the two unsatisfactory ones for freemotion quilting practice, and just have to decide what to do with the other four afterwards!
Jinnie, this is the kind of commentary that really excites me..... getting into an artists brain! I can't tell you which one I like best, all great in their own way.
ReplyDeleteThere seemed to be a common thread developing and then you turned it all upside down with your approach.... Well done. My preference is the last one as I see more depth and atmosphere.
ReplyDeleteWhen I saw everyone else's quilts, I began to feel like the odd one out!
DeleteI too prefer the last one, though I'm not absolutely sure why. Something about the way the middle range blends in I think. A very different way of approaching this artist, and a great description of how you got there.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the last one is better in terms of the composition, but I didn't quite capture the 'atmosphere' of the mist in the valleys between the mountains, which was better on the others. I'm never satisfied!
ReplyDeleteI love all your efforts Jinnie, but the last one is my favourite - partly because there is more colour in it. Thanks for showing us the process.
ReplyDeleteThanks for letting us into your thought process. I might have been tempted to go with either of the first two. But your final piece is very atmospheric. Hilary
ReplyDeleteI also like the last one as it has a bit more colour but they are all interesting and I can see how much work you put into producing what you wanted to do, so well done on doing your own interpretation which brings in such a lovely soft look to your work. You have definitely made this your own. You must be proud.
ReplyDeleteI love reading your commentary about your processes and thoughts, and I love your results too. I like them all!
ReplyDeleteVery interesting pieces Jinnie. The process sounds quite 'labour intensive' and certainly nothing I would have tried. Well done. P.S. What is the size for our next piece?
ReplyDeleteIt wasn't at all labour intensive, and quite quick to do. I just tore newspaper to make a stencil for the line of the hills, sprayed some gray fabric paint and added a bit more colour where needed with oil sticks. The monoprints were even quicker to do! I felt rather lazy with this one!
ReplyDeleteAs to the size of the next series, here is what Hilary sent via email, in case you missed it:
A reminder that the size is more flexible this time. You can choose between a 16” square and 16” x 20”. You can jump from one format to another between challenges and use the rectangle portrait or landscape as suits your piece.
The theme can be interpreted in many ways and the inspiration given in any format from word to picture to type of architecture to one aspect of architecture, etc. It does NOT include interior décor – furniture, etc.