Berries, Thorns, and Contrast
After completing the stalks, it was on to the thorns and berries.
– How thick should the thorns be? Skinny enough to be sharp, but fat enough to show up.
– In light fabrics, so they’ll show.
– And what about the berries? Yellow seems like a good choice, but will the high contrast make them the stars of the composition?
Click any image for a larger view
My first experiment with berries and thorns is shown above. I thought I could do better and tried again, below. Notice that I removed the very lightest berries. The berries still attract a lot of attention, but not as strongly.
But, I thought the thorns blended in too much. To help correct that, I used black thread to quilt around the stalks and the thorns.
That helped, but it still didn’t provide the definition I wanted. So, I began to consider radical solutions. Could I paint a black outline around them? Even though the quilting was finished and the quilt was nearly complete. Was I that brave? Well, I did some experimenting and decided a black permanent marker would do the trick. See the effect below.
I was happy with the reults.
Next, it’s on to more background quilting. And maybe some hand stitching.
Ellen Lindner
Looking good, Ellen. I wish I had you at my house when I am struggling selecting fabrics for a quilt…you are so good at it.
Chris
Ellen – I enjoyed seeing your process for this quilt. Thanks for sharing. Always wondering how artists make decisions. The thing that holds me back mostly is thinking I have to have the end result in mind before I begin. I think that must come from being a garment seamstress for the past 50 years and working with a pattern. I continue to struggle with letting go of outcome and just playing. I’ll probably always struggle with that!
Thanks, Chris. Fabric selection is one of my favorite things!
Interesting that you selected yellow for the berries I had visualized a fuschia color.
I really like the black outline for the thorns and your solution.
Good Job.
Ruth
Hey Ruth,
I somehow never considered fuschia, although I should have. Your comment made me do so. I loved the color combination, but eventually decided the berries didn’t show up well enough when purple and pink. So, I kept the yellow berries (which was the actual color in my photo.)
And, even though I didn’t change the berry color, I am considering another after-completion change!