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Sunday, January 22, 2012

Uncharacteristically Quiet

Sunburnt Country (26"x46")
 Yes, I have been silent for quite a while now, too caught up in my studio to communicate.

It all started when I tackled the Fiberactions challenge for January:  work in a color set that is outside your comfort zone.  The pink/mauve set was so outside my zone that I was very uncomfortable and immediately dove into "my" colors.  My last post about "They Rode the Sparks to Heaven" was the result.

As I was making it, I naturally created a narrative...as I always do...and it occurred to me that places have particular colors in one's memory.  Think about Ghana, the Caribbean, the Timor Straits.  All relatively close in latitude.  But when one thinks of them, the colors are different.  The color saturation is different.  The angle of light seems different.

That led me to a theme:  The Color of Place.  The next pieces are part of what I can only think of as an Ode to Australia.  I've posted four of the same ilk...two others are slightly different and will follow at another time.

The detail pics show the topographical ridges that I hoped would add to the feeling of land.  Over the course of making these four, I learned how to control the amount of fullness in the piecing, which I stuffed with polyfill for dimension.  It was interesting (and probably pretty useless beyond this application).
Desert Skies (29"x55")
Desert Rains (28"x49")
Sunburnt Country detail



Top End Archipelago detail

Top End Archipelago(26"x57")
This theme has launched me into thinking about so many places.  Where to go next?  Maybe Japan.  Hmmm.

I hope this makes sense to others...I hope it's not so idiosyncratic that no one "gets" it.  Not that everything I do needs to be understood by others....  I'd be interested in your thoughts though.

4 comments:

  1. Being "understood" is nice -- I agree that it's not always that important. Being "appreciated" is probably more desirable, and I, for one, truly appreciate your color and texture explorations. And I LOVE log cabin designs that have been pushed to the edge. You go, girl!

    Diane

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  2. Who cares if it makes sense to anyone else? If it floats your boat, do it. This work is very unusual and edgy (pun intended). Isn't doing "different" work what we all want to do, despite the fact that few of us really do? Kudos to you, Diane!

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  3. There is so much movement in these pieces; a really vibrant way to deal with place!

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  4. Hi, Diane. Your log cabins make me think of the earth in movement: faults, fissures, earthquakes. Very interesting.
    best, nadia

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