Thanks to Maggy for pointing out that I hadn’t posted a picture on here of my finished quilted version on Hockney’s self-portrait. I have just added it to “Hockney gets a scarf” under the “Art Quilts” category.
If anyone reading this is interested to learn more about the Lincolnshire Quilters “David Hockney Challenge”‘, which is gaining momentum nicely, we have a blog at http://www.linqsblog.wordpress.com
The trees are now painted and ironed in place on the riverside. As I thought, there was too much of the darker blue in the sky so some of it has been removed. There are lots of smaller branches/twigs to embroider and I still have to figure out how to create the water and reflections but that can all wait till next week.
Having damaged my toe on Friday I’ve had the perfect excuse to shut myself away in my workroom and start on a new project. I wanted to create an art quilt based on trees and reflections so last week, while out walking my dog, I took a series of photographs along the riverbank. The aim is to make a 30 x 40 cm quilt as a prototype for a larger version as part of the David Hockney Challenge. The thought of doing one 30″ x 40″ straight off was a bit too daunting! The finished design isn’t intended to look like a Hockney but the influence is still there i.e. trees and reflections in water.
I particularly liked this image but decided to simplify the layout for my quilt and position the riverbank “straight on”.
Yesterday I painted a wash of colour on my background fabric, layered it with organza and netting and machine quilted it to create the sky. I’m not sure if I did the right thing by making it this colourful….I wanted a bit of drama behind the trees but might have gone a bit too strong with the blues! We’ll see when the trees get added.
For the riverbank I remembered I had an old scarf which was the ideal colour so this was cut up and distressed using a heat gun before being sewn in place.
The background is ready for the trees to be added.
I figured an easy way to create the trees would be to draw them onto iron-on Vilene and cut them out using a craft knife. With the branches criss crossing it enabled me to cut it as one piece rather than fiddling about with several individual trees. I like using Vilene as it gives a crisp edge, it accepts paint really well and using the iron-on type means there’s no need for Bondaweb or spray adhesive.
The trees cut from Vilene.
The trees are now in the process of being painted and I will post an update as and when they are ironed in place.
Starting work on painting the trees
A felted scarf and my David Hockney mixed media quilt is nearly ready for quilting!
This evening David Hockney got himself a dark red Merino wet felted scarf so now he’s nearly ready to be put together and quilted.
To finish off I’v machined four rows of stitching at the back of the figure to represent the newsprint columns, quilted around the edge of the figure and added a black border.
My finished quilted version of David Hockney’s self portrait
Work in progress
The mixed media Hockney quilt has been shelved for a couple of weeks but today I made a start on his clothing. Based on his 1954 self portrait, I am bringing him into the next decade. Along with his iconic dyed blond hair and round specs I decided to swap his check shirt for something a little more flamboyant!
I want my version of Hockney’s collage ‘Self Portrait‘ to be a fun piece constructed from a mixture of materials and methods. The face is being built up with layers of synthetic fabrics, bonded together using an 18w Antex soldering iron. My first attempt was with a 30w iron and a fine point bit….it was awful! The fabric burnt and I couldn’t control the cutting edge as the iron was too hot and the point too thick. I took advice from Margaret Beal on her website and bought a lower wattage iron with an extra fine bit…..it’s a lot easier when you use the right tools!
For the mop of blond hair I chose to use a technique which I originally saw demonstrated by Jan Tillett on Youtube. This involved free machine sewing onto water soluble stabiliser which was held in an embroidery hoop. I traced the outline of the hair onto the stabiliser before sewing back and forth with yellow and cream thread, overlapping the stitches so that they held together once the background fabric was washed away. The hair took shape very quickly and I am really pleased with the texture. The next job will be to select fabrics for the clothes.
Creating the hair using soluble stabiliser.
The mop of blond hair plonked in place!
Lincs In Stitches 