Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Oh, those colors

Beautiful, those lorikeet colors! When Brenda announced the theme I commented, "this makes me happy." But when I actually started to plan my piece I found it so much more difficult than I expected. While the colors are beautiful, they are STRONG. They are intense. They are starkly contrasting. None of these attributes are ones that I generally work with.

I thought about the lorikeets and how beautiful and vivid they are as they flash about and it occurred to me that perhaps my approach to the colors should be as "flashes" and bits of frolicking color, rather than a full-on onslaught of intense color. So I went for a field of neutral color with a horizon dancing with tiny blocks of the lorikeet colors.

 "Oh, those Colors"

I really enjoyed making this piece and I find it wonderfully clean and cheerful and a bit of a change from my usual work, but it nagged at me that perhaps I was not really doing justice to the theme colors, so I made another piece.

 "Night Garden"

Could this be any different from the first one?  Another out-of-character piece for me, but with more familiar elements. I like it too. Which one do I like the best? I am still undecided today as I reveal them. I think I am still leaning toward the first one, but, hmmmm, I just don't know. Help me decide!

What I really love about both of these pieces is that they were a chance to experiment—perhaps a little more than I usually do.

15 comments:

Carla said...

For the challenge, I love the second piece.

Diane Perin said...

Oh! Both of these are delightful. I especially love the strength of the first one -- the color among neutrals is so striking, so clean. And it is different from your usual entries but also so YOU -- graphic, strong lines, excellent proportions... I like the garden one two -- that has much more whimsy to it, of course. Both very fun responses!

Gerrie said...

I like the idea of the first one balancing the riot of colors in the other pieces.

Terri Stegmiller said...

Hmmm, I really like them both, but will admit that the first one doesn't shout out "lorikeet" to me. Although Gerrie's comment about balancing the other pieces in the collection makes sense, if you want to view it in that way. I'm no help at all!

Kristin L said...

I love seeing how the predominance of white in the first and blue in the second make both of these so different from the rest of ours with our emphasis on the green. Great exercise in color relativity.

I think that the first one says more about the colors themselves and is more of a Terry aesthetic. However, in thinking about our group mosaics, I think your second one will be better able to hold it's own in the riot of colors.

They are both lovely.

Karen said...

I love these, they are so different and both fantastic. I just want to keep gazing at the first one, it really wonderful, and different than what we usually see from you. The second piece is equally beautiful in a totally different way, the circles and rings are great, so I'm leaving the choice up to others

Anonymous said...

Your colours are all wrong - they are not lorikeet colours.

Brenda Gael Smith said...

The first piece is very elegant. Its neutral background provides some respite and coordinates with elements of other pieces (eg the right handside of Deborah and Nikki's pieces and the background of Terri's lorikeet. However, Night Garden is much more lorikeet-toned and seems more appropriate to the challenge palette. I also like how the Night Garden composition fills up the 12x12in space.

Deborah Boschert said...

They are both quite playful in their own ways. I like them both very much. I love the title of the second one -- as if you can't quite tell the difference between the flowers and the stars. Even though you were experimenting, I still recognized them as yours.

By the way... Anonymous above certainly has the right to express an opinion and she may even be correct, but geez... some tact and respect, please.

Terry Grant said...

Ha ha! Thanks, anonymous! So much for artistic license....

JB said...

Although blue is a definite part of the selected color palette, it took me so off guard when I viewed "Night Garden". I am not sure why I found it so surprising. I like both pieces, the understated, peacefulness of "Oh Those Colors" and the joyous, happy statement made by "Night Garden".

Nikki said...

I love how "Night Garden" fits in the mosaic. The blue ties together the touches of blue in the other pieces.

Both pieces are beautiful and so different from each other. I love the variety of quilts we create from the same starting place.

Anonymous said...

I agree with Anonymous actually and to use artistic license I'm going to do a black and white piece - do you think it would be accepted?

But Anonymous you did actually prove a point as the artist has agreed that one piece was 'more wrong' than the other!

Hilary said...

I still like your paler piece better. It makes me think of a flock of lorikeets flying passed something like a cliff - just that flash of colour. To my mind it is a very sophisticated interpretation of the theme.

I also like the piece you have chosen - it is surprisingly bright for a Night Garden.

Hilary

Jamie Fingal said...

Night Garden is a great piece with it's bright colors and blue background...makes for a stunning art quilt.