4, 16, 32

Fractals and spirals and chaos theory! I actually think there are a lot of Mathematicians who are also quilters, and us quilters who are not are probably using a lot more math than we give ourselves credit for.




I went straight to traditional quilting on this one and found 4-patch, 16-patch and 36-patch designs that looked like larger or smaller versions of each other and kinda melded them together to make one 12 x 12 composition. It's mathematical in it's division and near-fractalness. It looks pretty much how I expected it to, but even if (or maybe especially if) I used "mathematical" colors like tints and shades and transparencies of each other, it would look like something made by cutting edge quilters from the seventies when Michael James and Nancy Crow were making perfectly gradated, precisely pieced strips and optical illusions. It just looks like a traditional quilt to me.


I'm going to have to keep working on this theme -- going further back to basics: ones, tens, hundreds, counting, accounting, pattern, predictability, and keeping track of things. Counting something in those groups of five comes to mind, as does an abacus. A loaded phrase like "You do the math," leads me to statistics -- perhaps a comparison of something considered woman's work with something not...

Water water everywhere

I was all set to post about how fabulous this 12 x 12 inch format is, and how I had two ideas and that I'd probably explore both since we're working so small. Yippee!

And then reality jumped up and bit me. I spent the better part of this last week online looking at housing in Hawaii and comparing schools and not really working on anything art related (does anyone find it interesting that I've found out that I'll be living in the middle of a lot of water at the same time we've got a water theme here?). I want to explore several ideas, but I don't think I've got time on my side. I do have one idea that's particularly interesting to me now and I'll focus just on that one. Luckily, due to our small format, I should be able to squeeze in a weekend of work on it before the movers come.

This is the direction I won't be pursuing:

A blue dandelion

I'm still playing with my pictures...

Journaling

It's interesting to me that we all have different approaches to the concept of journaling, but that most of us seem to do a bit along the way when working toward an idea. I agree with you, Kristin, that the idea of creating gorgeous artful journals is art-creation in itself, and that takes away from precious fabric art time.

What's a girl to do?!

And I hadn't thought about it, but the computer files of images I acquire on the way to finalizing an idea, and the blog entries I've made while thinking thru something, are themselves a way of journaling.

I think I'm still going to try to see if I can keep my images/notes/thoughts/sketches in one place as I work on the themes for this challenge.

Dent-de-lion

Yesterday, I took a few pictures of dandelions, before my DH mowed the lawn. (We have lots of dandelions in our garden...) Then I played with PSP, and tried some filters and effects on the pictures.

Journaling on the theme

Another question: Do you all keep journals or use sketchbooks in developing your art work?

Taken as I am with the work of Linda and Laura Kemshall, I have been studying their website lately and looking closely at how they use their journals to develop art ideas. I've never been organized about my sketchbooks...they really tend to be a collection of scribbles, which sometimes prove useful in working out ideas.

I was thinking that for our challenges, I'd try to start a journal to work with the selected themes and see how (if?) it helps me as my thoughts devleop and images evolve.

Anyone else interested in doing that?

I figured that for those of us who are interested in giving that a try, we could post that here, too.

What do you think?