Friday, August 1, 2008

Gilded Pears



Shortly after receiving this challenge, I was leafing through an art and antiques magazine and was struck by still lifes that just seemed to glow. I decided then that this was what I wanted to represent in my challenge piece. I love pears, perhaps because I am shaped like one. They are so voluptuous. I learned that this technique is known as chiaroscuro.
Chiaroscuro (Italian for light-dark) is a term in art for a contrast between light and dark. The term is usually applied to bold contrasts affecting a whole composition, but is also more technically used by artists and art historians or the use of effects representing contrasts of light, not necessarily strong, to achieve a sense of volume in modeling three-dimensional objects such as the human body.
I had some wonderful hand-dyed silk that just screamed pears. On my blog you can see how they looked before I added gold foil. They looked illuminated, even then, but I had to add the foiling, just because I could!! The background is dupioni silk.

I enjoyed this challenge. There were many avenues that I thought of taking, but with my busy schedule, this one was the most executable. (Is that a word?)

14 comments:

Dale Anne Potter said...

FABULOUS job on those pears Gerrie - they look eatable!!!

Gerrie said...

Thanks, Dale, but after what they have been through, I think not.

Diane Perin said...

Lovely pears, Gerrie, and the gold foil makes them look so elegance. I love the tones of color you have here.

Diane Perin said...

I mean they look so "elegant." Geez.

Kristin L said...

If you can't use gold leaf on a project about illumination, when can you?! They look positively luscious.

Deborah Boschert said...

Oh yes! The gold is fabulous. I loved seeing the before picture on your blog. I used foil in my piece too. I've never used it before and see many lovely uses for metallics in this challenge might make me use it more. I also love the way the background colors compliment the colors in the pears.

Terry Grant said...

They definitely have that "lit from within" chiarascuro quality. They are jewels.

Françoise said...

Mmmm... gorgeous! I'm off to your blog to see the other picture.

Terri Stegmiller said...

Oh yes, that fabric was perfectly wonderful for pears. I love the addition of the foil. The entire color scheme is really attractive to me.

artfilstitch said...

Your pears look juicy, ripe and ready to eat. Love the colors and the stitches are well done.

kirsten said...

Oooh, Gerrie, this quilt makes me salivate! The silk, the gilding, the beautiful washes of lavender, and THAT GREEN!! Your composition is immaculate. And I was immediately impressed by the quilting.I love that you chose an unexpected line on the pears. It gives the quilt a freshness.

Anonymous said...

A perfect foil to the other illumination quilts (and I love the chartreuse).

Nikki said...

Beautiful pears--I can finally see why people decorate with fruit.

Karen said...

Gerrie, the background you used was perfect for this, and the pastels in the pears are great. Of course, the gold really makes the piece shine!