As an artist the seasons all represent opportunities for exploring various quilt concepts. Summer though is my favorite for working outdoors. Generally the term "plein air" is associated with painting and drawing subjects outdoors. The term plein air or plein air painting is a phrase borrowed from the French equivalent meaning "open (in full). I think the phrase is applicable to designing quilts.
This post will begin to demonstrate my design process. I will cover some of the basics and for those wanting more in depth information I will expand on the basics in my Art Quilt Lab blog. http://artquiltlab.blogspot.com/
Getting started,
I like both nature type designs as well as graphical and geometric designs and thought of a project to combine all.
I took the train into downtown Salt Lake on a hot 100 degree day and went into the City Creek mall for a cool drink to take and enjoy at the fountain. While enjoying a cool off moment I thought of a quilt design that would combine nature and also represent many of the bright colors in the storefront windows.
The nature part, This particular mall has a portion of a stream (City Creek) running right through the mall. I have followed this stream from its origins in the mountains to the North East of the city. In the stream running through City Creek Canyon there are wild trout. The stream in the mall also has some Trout, I nicknamed them Mall Trout, (photos below)
The project in mind would be an art quilt with the trout graphically illustrated along with supporting designs
For this post I have included photos of the inspiration for my design and in subsequent posts will keep adding project work and design. The point I want to express in this post is to look for opportunities that inspire design. Generally one may not think of a large city mall as a possible place for inspiration to design a nature themed quilt but take a look around you and you may be surprised on what is awaiting for your design touch.
The photos shown below are what I began to draw my inspiration from. In the next post I will show my sketches and the design Ideas in progress.
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| City Creek Food Court |
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| City Creek Fountain |
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| City Creek Running through Mall |
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| Mall Trout |
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