Tuesday 1 January 2013

Welcome to 2013

Don't you find that the two holiday periods of Christmas and New Year roll into each other to make a bit of a doldrom?  Life seems to sit in limbo between all the cooking and present opening and catching up with friends and family and I am now looking forward to picking up the strings again and getting back to some creativity.  2012 has ended with a yucky cough and cold so I am looking forward to something better for 2013.

So far I have decided not to have a particular word focus or any resolutions for this year.  It feels enough to 'keep moving forwards' as I read on someone's blog recently. Although I do still want to amalgamate what I learned with Dionne Swift and Shelley Rhodes last year so more sketchbook work does need to become part of my routine.

In the meantime I have several projects on the go.  I am still involved in the International Quilt Challenge and the latest theme is 'Reflection' and I have until later this month to complete it.  It is a theme that is open to many interpretations, especially at this time of year.  I've also committed myself to the Sue Ridgewell Challenge at this year's AGM of the Quilters' Guild of GB.  The theme of this challenge is 'My World is Green' and the resulting piece has to be 24" square.  I'm thinking that I may combine the two projects and have some ideas for 'My World is Green'.   

You may remember the first quilt I made for Festival of Quilts where I used curved piecing.

The image above shows the general idea.  I've also been meaning to work along the lines of Rayna Gillman and her free-form piecing so I thought this could be the project for it.

To make a start I have played about with an image of fields near Zennor in Cornwall in Photoshop, as that part of the country is a constant source of reflection to me as we dream about a possible move to the coast that will probably never happen.  






Fields are obviously very much in the 'green' range.  The danger is not having enough range and contrast in the choice of greens, a pitfall that is easy to fall into.  I didn't fancy working in my sketchbook (what was I saying before?) so I had a play with collage with various papers on a piece of watercolour paper.


This is 12"x12" so, one quarter the size of the final piece.   The next step will be to start making some blocks in blends of greens and trying to build the whole thing.  When I used to paint I had to remind myself that there are many types of green, red greens, yellow greens, blue greens, grey greens, brown greens.  In fact, in some cases it was better to paint colours that suggested green without actually being green.  If I were Hockney my greens would even be pink!  Now there's a thought!

I've said it already but I'll say it again, Happy New Year!  I hope 2013 is kind to you. For myself, I would just like to stop coughing!


18 comments:

apiecefullife said...

This is lovely countryside and I love what you are doing with the images.
We walked a good length of it "last year". The bit from Zennor to St Ives was challenging!

Anonymous said...

What a great project, the curved piecing is wonderful and your projects are always so texturally inspiring to me. xox Feel better!!!

PeggyR said...

Great project! Hope the cough goes soon!

Jackie said...

I do hope that your cough has gone away. If not, here's a word to the cough from Jackie, "Get Lost!!"
OK..two words, but hopefully the cough will listen!
Hugs to you, my friend.
J.

Françoise said...

Happy New Year!
Love the collage. Looking forward to seeing the stitched piece.

sharon young said...

I hope you feel better soon, Julie. I love,the developments you've made so far, the colours are so sunny and bright in the last pic, looking forward to seeing your progress.

gilby said...

Love the work Julie, have a great New Year.
Just going for a 5 mile run,to help me get back to some sense of normality after Christmas and the New Year celebrations.
Do hope your cold is getting better.

Peneller said...

Sorry to hear about your cough Julie. I hope it goes away before too long. Your collage is lovely and I can't wait to see the finished piece. I hope 2013 will prove to be a good one for you and yours.

pam said...

Oh Julie that is superb - look forward to seeing the finished piece. Hope you are feeling much better and look forward to all yourblogs in 2013 xx

Angela said...

Happy New Year Julie. I look forward to seeing this project develop, I love tha collage.

Deborah OHare said...

I think there might be a few landscape themed pieces for this challenge. I do like your paper collage, and look forward to see where you go with this.
Happy New Year!

Sandra Wyman said...

These ideas look great - love the collage. Hope you're better soon.

Gina said...

I really don't like that limbo period either. Your collage looks terrific and I think you should go for a pink green!

Heather said...

Your collage is wonderful and you sound as if you already have your work cut out for 2013 - no pun intended!
Do hope your cough leaves you soon. I begrudge the amount of energy that a cough uses.
Happy New Year to you and your family, and I look forward to seeing your projects take shape.

Wendy said...

Is it 2013 already! time disolves at this time of year and I have no idea what day of the week it is. I will be back to normal next week and will see you on Wednesday :):):):):)

love the collage and the idea that green is really pink - suits me ;)

sweetypie said...

Im just jealous...

Amanda said...

Happy New Year! And I hope the cough goes soon. Good luck with the challenge, you already know I like the paper version!

mrsnesbitt said...

The North York Moors would be an ideal subject for this Julie. Are you coming up this year?