Now – last week I wrote in a very depressed mood about a big panel that I'd spent a lot of time on and which didn't turn out very well. I had a lot of VERY kind comments from people who said it probably wasn't as bad as I thought, and a couple of them actually wanted to see it for themselves. Well, OK, you asked for it! (well, some of you did anyway!) so here's the prodigal panel
Could do better…
There are seven large designs, all stitched separately. The designs themselves aren't all that bad, if a bit ordinary, but I just didn't put them together right. For example, look at the top right-hand pot, with the blue flowers. The pot just seems to be floating in mid-air, and not standing together with the other pots. And the painted background is too "noisy" and complicated, so that it overwhelms the flowers. And then there are the technical problems. If you look at the fabric around the single red rose, you can see a lot of wrinkles where the background fabric is rucked up. And then there are…but I won't go on!
Oh well, you can't get everything right all the time, and I've learned a huge amount from this experience. And I'm really grateful to all those kind people who were so encouraging!
Well, if you don’t like it–it is not right for you. There are certainly interesting elements and now you know where you are going to put what and where your background colors need to be.I like it…
It’s busy and I love it!!
I like it too! But I can see that it isn’t your normal style. If you hate it enough that you’d throw it out anyway, then it gives you freedom to experiment with it to see if you can make it so you’d like it.
The floating flower pot is easy to fix. Sketch a planter table under it. The rucked up fabric around the rose could be turned into sun rays or lines of bees heading toward and away from it. I think I remember having one turn out like that once where I just put it over a ham and pressed the wrinkles out of it, pulled and pinned, and anchored for framing.
If you think the background colors are too bold, would a “henna wash” help? You could brush an earth tone or three over it to tone it down.
Worst case, take a mat from a picture frame and move it over the piece to see if there are places to cut that would make you happy. You could frame the upper left corner 3rd of the piece (the bowl of violets, 2 of the 3 yellow flowers to the right of that, and the very tops of the sunflowers below). That cuts down on the riotous background painting and only leaves the rosy color in the upper right behind the blue bowl.
If you cut out the upper right corner, you might want to add color to the background behind the blue flowers and they wouldn’t be “floating” anymore.
I learned in the kitchen that if something is ruined beyond use, it means I have the freedom to try stuff, without worry I’ll ruin it, in the interest of experimentation. Paint it, stretch it, whack it, and learn all sorts of things.
🙂
I really don’t think it’s as bad as you felt it was last week, but if it’s not your taste, I can see how you’d be disappointed.
I’d be interested to see if you hate it as much next month if you put it away and don’t look at it for a few weeks.
Thanks for letting us share your process!
It may not be what you were shooting for, but I Love it. The background for me makes it ethereal (think I spelled that right). They are coming out of a mist. A quilting friend says there are no mistakes only creative opportunities. This is just lighter less “real” than your usual. The flowers have the usual detail,think I can smell them, but the background takes it to another level. As I said, I LOVE it.
I still like it I can see what you saying about the blue pot. But all in all it is very nice.
It is different from your usual style, but it is still a piece of art. Very nice!