Dawn patrol

My ideas for extreme fencing settled on the most unfriendly fencing you can get, razor wire. I was able to get a few source photos to give me ideas, and this one had a strong idea of Notan, so I used dark wire on the light half of the background and light wire on the dark half. I wasn't sure if the quantity of wire would seem overwhelming, but it turned out fine.

I played with the idea of just having an abstract based on the coils of wire, but it seemed to need a context.  I  made up a silhouette of a soldier, but I didn't want him to look threatening, so I put the gun onto his back. The metallic black thread really catches the light, which you can see in the close up.















 I was really fortunate to have a small piece of surface designed fabric in the right colours that turned out really convincingly for the soldier, conveying his face and camouflage clothes.

The background fabric was painted with thickened dyes, as illustrated by Laura Kemshall in a recent DMTV show.
After I had completed the barbs, which took many hours, I felt the lack of colour made it seem more dismal than I intended, so I added a turquoise thread inside the border, and some Inktense pencils gave me the dawn glow.

Without this challenge idea, I would not have thought of this interpretation of fencing, as it seemed initially very negative. However, I am really pleased with how it turned out.

Value and How to Create it

Value is an interesting design tool it can create drama and mood.
Dark values carry a sombre feel while light colours give a feeling of peacefulness. If you want to create a focal point, surround a light area with a dark one, it will create a frame that draws the eye like a magnet. Used in conjunction with texture, colour and line, interest can be heightened and intriguing images created. In his picture Temple Gardens, Paul Klee uses value to draw your eye around the painting.

Temple Gardens

A grey scale image makes this clear, as your eye dances around following the black shapes or the light ones.

In quilting, then, the key is finding enough pieces of fabric in your chosen colour to create the values you "need". 

Edinburgh Sunset

Edinburg Sunset, challenged my stash, and as I have 5 large boxes of fabric and odd pieces tucked here and there in drawers and on shelves because the boxes are too full, I just couldn't explain the need for more fat quarters when all that was needed was a tiny square or two. 

Fortunately I have a wonderful tin of Inktense pencils and a selection of textile paints. 

The pencils were used to darken the fabric for the windows. To use them just colour, then brush with a barely wet paint brush and iron once dry to set the pigment (protect your work surface with a piece of paper or plastic sheet). Then the fabric can be bonded using any bonding agent of your choice. The textile paint was used to create the orange red sky fabric,  foreground and windows on the dark house. A good range in value can be achieved by dilution of the paint with water (again protect your work surface), or more than one coat. Lightly sprinkling with salt while it's wet will create texture, if it is left to dry without moving. Again heat set the colour with an iron set for the fabric, in both cases I protect my iron with baking parchment. As both paint and pencils blend and mix with water, you only need a few colours to create a wide range. I would recommend this as an alternative to buying more fabric if small pieces are your passion and you enjoy a little colouring. 

Silent Roar

When I started brainstorming the idea of the sound of silence, I listed, among other things, cats and snow. Then I found a quote that said something along the lines of "Silence is the name people give to the sound a mountain lion makes as it walks around the outside of your house". Mountain lions didn't click, but snow leopards did, as I had recently seen a BBC series made about monitoring snow leopards in a reserve in the bleakest part of Russia.

The more I researched, the more appropriate it became: snow leopards are headed for extinction, the ultimate silence. There are only about 5000 in the wild and all in war-torn or poacher-filled countries like Afghanistan, China, Tibet, Pakistan and India. Habitat loss and prey loss is also a big factor. For example, as fewer native blue sheep are around, because of larger shepherded flocks of domestic sheep, so leopards are killed for taking domestic sheep.

Silent roar is a phrase used of snow leopards because they are not vocally equipped to roar. They can only purr or yowl. They are unique in this among big cats.

There are some fabulous photos online of snow leopards, but this one jumped off the page demanding attention. I will credit the photographer if the quilts ever make it to the public eye.

Snow leopards have extra long and fat tails to use for balance, and small rounded ears, to minimise frost damage.

Techniques: leopard spots drawn with inktense pencils, leopard trapuntoed, shadow covered with black tulle and black Mistyfuse. Angelina highlights on the snow.