Corn Fields and Such

After separately creating the two men for my “brothers quilt,” it was time to work on the background.

I finished up the rough draft of the sky and added the far tree line, (with a piece of blue fabric marking a future silo.).

Next it was on to the corn field in the foreground. Since the reference photo was taken in November, the corn had already been harvested and the short golden stalks were all that was left.

I wanted to create the texture of the messy corn stalks, but not too exactly.  So, I used lots of print fabrics to convey the vegetation.  My plan was to use large scale prints in the foreground, like those shown below, and smaller scaled ones in the background.  I hoped this would add a sense of depth.

It worked, but required a good bit of tweaking. (And a lot of pins!) Here is what I think will be the final corn field, below.

Distant fields had much more subtle texture, so I auditioned near-solid fabrics for them.

Here they are, complete.  I’m happy with the sense of depth.  That will be enhanced when I add the small buildings in the distance.

Next it was time to start adding the green fields and grasses. Here it is, in-progress.

I’m getting close to completing the design of this background.  I still need to add the foreground grass and the buildings.  Then, I’ll have to glue it all in place.

FYI, here’s another quilt where I used the scale of fabrics to add to the sense of depth.

Ellen Lindner