Quilt National 2013

Greetings from Athens, Ohio! I flew out yesterday with Hari, my husband, for the opening of Quilt National 2013. I've been looking forward to this for awhile, as my latest quilt. "No One but You" has been accepted into the show. There is a reception this afternoon for the artists only, then the official opening of the show, awards ceremony and banquet. QN happens every other year, and is a prestigious show to be accepted into - sort of the Holy Grail for art quilters. I'm anxious to see the other accepted pieces. QN has the honor of presenting all the art for the first time; none of the artists were supposed to show their accepted piece before the opening. I'll let you know what I think afterwards, I'm curious to see if I can spot any trends in this event for contemporary art quilting.

where to put the attention?

Whoa, I got ahead of myself. I forgot something. What, am I kidding - another step? Oh yeah, and there'll be a lot more before this is done!
Unusual perspective was what I had been first thinking about for this quilt. What did that mean? Bird's eye view, looking on from on high?

No, that separates me from the  reality of the scene - it's putting me on a different plane, like I'm not on the same footing as the characters, I'm in a different world.

How about up close then? Maybe. But here the attention is so focused on the front characters that all the rest becomes meaningless. Also, in the right photo, the one solitary figure, who has a lot of symbolism, is right between the front two figures, and that interrupts the dialog of the two.

Just by changing the location of the camera, I can capture a different view of the scene. I've shifted over to the right and a little higher. The solitary figure is isolated now, and that is better. But I think I want to emphasize him more. And, if you look at last post, you'll see that I've brought him right up front.

My plan is that all the figures are relating to each other in some way, they are all connected. Two look at a book, two are at a grave, maybe planting flowers, and a few are seated together, maybe telling stories. The groups will be touching in some way visually, the hat overlapping the grave behind, the grave overlapping the figure behind. Yet, one figure is alone. He is quiet, introspective? He is the only one staring straight ahead, connecting with the viewer. What is his story?

I'll get to that, next post. See you then.

Leading the eye

Here's another view of the set up. I needed something to hang the flags from, so I used the fan as it was the only thing around tall enough. When I look at the photos, I just ignore the fan.

I wanted to have a dramatic perspective, but wasn't quite sure what I meant by that. A view from the top? A very close up of the figures in front?  I thought I would start with the flags. Not only can a show depth of field, with far away ones being smaller and the larger ones being close by, but I'll also use them as a way to guide your eye into or around the picture.

The first one here shows that flags coming in almost over your head and receding almost straight back.  It's not giving enough information  - first, you're trying to figure out what they are, and second, they're not helping to define distance. So it's just acting as a distraction to the rest of the picture. 

This next one doesn't do much

 for either perspective

 or leading the eye.

Now, the one on the left is definitely a possibility. The big guy catches your attention, and the flags lead you back into the picture.

The diagram below shows where my eye travels. The blue line on the left is about where the edge of the picture will be. The flags take me out of the picture on the right, but I travel back in through the middle figures, helped by the leaning position and the direction of his gaze.  An unusual point is that my eye stops toward the center of the picture. Usually you want to lead into the picture, have your eye travel around, and then lead out. Here I'm using the dark areas just outside of the compositional triangle (described by the green line) as a pathway for the eye to travel out.

What, no comments?

To anyone who has sent me a comment via this blog, I haven't received it! I just found out today that a friend has been sending comments to my blog regularly. I never knew that as I haven't received any! Obviously, there is a problem with some setting on this Blogger account. I've looked at the settings and looked on Google for a solution to the problem, but I haven't come up with anything yet. If you have sent me some words, please don't think I'm rude for not replying. Until I figure this out, you can always get through to me via the contact page on my website:  www.susanpolansky.com

And by the way, my new site is in the works, 

and I anticipate that it will be up and running
 within the next few weeks.

No pictures today as I've been working on a lecture presentation that I will be giving at Quinobequin Quilter's Guild meeting on May 14. The topic will be "What does it mean to Find Your Voice as an Artist?" I've got the body of what I want to say down, now I've got to work on the visual presentation. My laptop developed a major glitch, and it has just been rebuilt, thanks to my husband and son. I've got to get used to some changes, re-load some programs (like Photoshop Elements - can't do without that,) and see if I want to use Power Point for the presentation. I've never used Power Point, so don't know if there is much of a learning curve. Guess I could always have my other son give me some lessons. Ah, the things they learn in school these days!