Week in Review 2022 – 02/18

Inspiration Generator

Photograph of a monarch butterfly perched on a butterfly bush. The photograph zooms in on the monarch, leaving the background blurry.
The inspiration photo taken by Dana B. Eagles in our backyard.

Have you ever wished for an inspiration generator? I don’t tend to get artist block. No staring at a blank page, canvas or empty studio for me. This doesn’t mean I don’t struggle with what to create next. But there are times when I do and this has been one of them.

Fabric is stacked and photographed in gray scale to determine actual value.
Before I began cutting fabric, I verified the contrast and lack of contrast by photographing the palette in gray scale.

Every year SAQA requests two auction donations. The first is for the Spotlight Auction and the second one for the Benefit Auction. Both are made up of small works and exact sizes. My comfortable range is 30″ or more. Anything smaller and things become too fiddly for me.

Four irregular shaped fabrics are combined to form the background. This image is in gray scale to get a sense of which fabrics blend and which contrast.
When a photograph is taken in gray scale, it is easy to assess where areas of high and low or no contrast are.

Well, the deadline to get my Spotlight Auction piece in is looming on the horizon. It is due March 31st. What in the world could I make that would capture a bidder’s attention and fit a 4.5″ x 6.5″ format? Time to turn to my inspiration generator.

Garden Delight is on its way.

Comes Through

I maintain a collection of photos, most taken by my husband, and all of them copyright free on my computer. These are in a folder labeled Potential Quilts. Then, they are subcategorize by headings, such as birds, butterflies, flowers and sunrises. Hurrah! A quick review of the photos turned up the perfect image to play with. What appealed to me is how the butterfly is in focus and the background is obscure.

Detail of the variety of stitches and techniques utilized to bring the scene to life.

From Inspiration to Execution

So, I am off and running, trying to do justice to the photograph. No surprise, I’m having mid project anxiety. Why is it something that looks relatively simple can be so time consuming and complex to execute?

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By Gwyned Trefethen

I am an artist who uses fabric, thread and miscellany to create designs gifted to me by my imagination.

2 comments

    1. Steal away, Angela. You can take a picture of the fabric if there is a lot. Since I was only using 5 fabrics (4 greens and the orange for the butterfly) I staggered them, laid them on printer and scanned on the black and white setting. D

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