Be Inspired by Your Photo, Not Controlled by It

“Be inspired by your photo, not controlled by it.” This is our class motto in Design Your Own Nature Quilt. The quilts in this post are good examples of that.

Barbara had this great starting photo.  She noticed the vertical striations and decided to abstract them a little and to exaggerate them.

Isn’t that more interesting?  I think so.

Barbara was kind enough to later send me a photo of her finished quilt.  Here it is, “Uluru, Austraila.” I think it’s fantastic!

Joan started with this great photo. Although she planned to eliminate quite a few trees, she wanted to reproduce it pretty closely.

However, as she began to exactly match some of the red colors in the foreground, she decided they weren’t bright enough for her.  She kicked up the colors and was much happier with it.

Then, it was time to tackle the mass of yellow leaves in the background.  Fortunately, Joan had a wonderful tree-like fabric that could be cut and used over and over to get the desired effect.

This is what it looked like at the end of class.  Very dramatic, right?

For her second quilt, Barbara started with a great photo taken in Hawaii.

Again, she simplified the shapes of the fields, and played up only the best parts of her photo. See the in-progress photo below.

Here’s her finished quilt, “Taro Ponds, Hanalei, Kauai.”

And a detail shot of the flooded fields.

These ladies did great work!

Ellen Lindner