Friday, April 27, 2012

It’s On

Themel_ItsOnMy piece is inspired by the feeling of excitement and speed I experienced while listening to Vivaldi.
The music reminded me of the first few minutes of a race… A lot of adrenaline, energy, momentum, a feeling of being chased.  The moments after the starting gun can be a little chaotic (which is why I tend to stay on the outside edge and hug the curb). Everyone is going in the same direction at different speeds. I sometimes feel like I’m being swept along, almost out of my control.  It takes a few minutes to calm down and get my bearings.  But pretty soon I get into a good rhythm and have fun.
For this piece I went a little bit out of my comfort zone and tried a few new approaches.  For the figures, I used bright colors without any modeling or sense of light & shadow. I also purposely stitched outside the edges of the figures with loose sketchy lines, pushing the colors into other figures, trying to create a blurry movement around them. 
Themel_ItsOn_detailThe runners in the distance fade out and disappear into simple line drawings.  That gives me a little visual “breathing room” and allows me to see the curve of the road.  The scene is crowded but I didn’t want it to be oppressive and claustrophobic.
I always add a binding to my quilts, usually a thin black line around the edge. But I thought that would ‘trap’ the figures and stop the action. So I experimented with matching the binding to the image using different fabrics. That way the runners can move out of the frame.

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6 comments:

  1. I LOVE your marathon, Kate. It's all about the ponytails. An inspired element.

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  2. Ditto! The pony tails are awesome. I also love the effect of your scribble quilting.

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  3. have been looking forward to your take on the challenge- great sense of movement!

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  4. Not having run in a marathon, great to get your perspective Kate! You have also captured the feeing of closeness and panic, related to the music inspiration. So glad the binding matches the quilt colours- at first I thought it was a faced edge.

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  5. Your initial reaction to the music was quite similar to mine, the running, chasing. The evolution to your finished piece was interesting to follow. You really captured the movement and excitement well....love the ponytails!

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  6. Kate, you inspire me to listen to familiar music again, with 'fresh' ears...

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