Christmas Cactus Abstracted

Inspired by a Christmas cactus. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com
After studying my photo of a Christmas cactus, I decided to try abstracting it with one repeated shape. Maybe something like these “spike” shapes. Christmas Cactus Abstraction. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com
Yes, I thought they worked well.

My original idea was to fill the entire space with this shape, just changing the color for background grass, brick, etc. But, when I tried that for grass I didn’t like it at all. Especially since just a few shapes were so effective.

Christmas Cactus Abstraction. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com

So, I decided to depict the actual plant only.

Here it’s shown as a square. I thought it would probably be better if I cropped off some of the left area.

Christmas Cactus Abstraction. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com

From there things fell together easily. Here it is, well under way.

Christmas Cactus Abstraction. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com

I was loving how it was coming together and I didn’t want to over work it. Audition. Edit. Repeat.

I think I’ll have this one finished quickly. Stay tuned.

Ellen Lindner
P.S. I’m not sure how to quilt the background. I’ll have to give that a good bit of thought.

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6 Responses to Christmas Cactus Abstracted

  1. Patricia Pollock February 28, 2021 at 1:54 pm #

    Awesome. Maybe quilt the pot and some ghost branches.

    • Ellen Lindner February 28, 2021 at 11:55 pm #

      Thanks, Patricia! Yes, I was thinking of that quilting pattern, as well.

  2. Valerie March 2, 2021 at 6:25 am #

    Love this composition……so simple but makes your statement……

  3. Grace Boxer March 2, 2021 at 8:29 am #

    Very cool and happy.

    • Ellen Lindner March 4, 2021 at 10:47 pm #

      Thanks, Grace!

  4. Kristin F March 2, 2021 at 12:34 pm #

    Interesting!

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