"Poodle with a Pearl"

"Poodle with a Pearl"  12" X 12" 
Today I am sharing my challenge piece for Art with Fabric Blog hop hosted by Alida at
 ( Art with Fabric Hop )

My quilt was inspired by Vermeer and his painting Girl with a Pearl earring. I saw an exhibit at the National Gallery of Art in DC a few years back. I've done almost 20 STAT quilts (see more here) over the past years, all interpreting a famous painter but in fabric with emphasis on texture.

I start by researching what made that Artist's work so outstanding. I try to learn from each piece I do.

Most of my STAT quilts have a poodle on them, as my muse for this project. This time I studied Vermeer and his capture of light and shadow. I used a photo of my poodle Milo so like the painting to me. Painting his portrait would have been easier! It's so much easier to mix color with paint than fabric.

I built the applique out of tiny shards of fabrics from the scrap bin in blues and blacks. I built it onto shirt tailor stabilizer because it's lightweight yet stable to do the embroidery on before auditioning backgrounds.

To be like Vermeer's painting,
1. I stayed in his color family of black, blue, shade of brown/tan with a strong blue (hat for him, ear in same kind of shape for me)
2. He used layers on layers of transparent paint to achieve shading, and I used layers and layers of different shades of fabric colors
3. I kept to the strong lines in content
4. I had a strong light source

I started on it Friday afternoon, and finished it Sunday afternoon... lots of adding of color and layers of stitching, layers of threads in metallic blue and silver, and black cotton. I added in a tiny bit of white pencil to form contrast of my black fabrics.

I liked how the fussy cut stars looked as eye highlights and hair highlights. I loved the way the blue ear color reflected her hat, and I pulled in bits of blue around him to repeat the color. I liked the challenge of doing it.

I did not like how it photographed, and how there could have been better contrast between shades of black if I'd had access to my whole stash. I tried to capture Milo's sincere little face but am not totally happy with my effort... still.... I love it. I learned, I sewed, I got lost in the process and it was fun.

I had some trouble finding my beads, but the largest pearl is real called a potato pearl for it's shape. The ones on his collar are a mix of real and faux. I made a dangle of the pearl on wire, twisting the top and bottom wire into what I hope is an artistic shape. I left fabric to ravel, and layered it without fusible so that edges would lift up creating more texture.

I loved this batik to represent the window (sliding back door) with it's view of nature and light. I quilted it in straight lines, unevenly placed to remind me of reflection on glass, using silver mylar thread for serious bling you probably can't see.

The floor was a brown hand dye from the scrap bin, so I had to make do with the size scrap and piece it together to have enough for the angular piece

I stitched increasingly farther apart straight lines to indicate a wood floor

In general, I do not draw out a pattern, I sketch rough lines on the stabilizer, and free hand cut shards of fabrics to fill in. I like to work in an additive way. Place fabric, stand back and cut another sliver, add that stitch, step back, repeat.

It all blends well when you see it in person, and my husband said the photos make the blue stand out more than in person... so come on over to see it! Or invite me to your guild for a presentation sometime!

linking to
 design wall Mondays at smallquiltsanddollquilts
lovelaughquilt.mondays 
http://emsscrapbag.                            
oh Scrap Sundays 
sewcanshe Saturdays
off the wall Fridays
can I get a whoop whoop Fridays  
myquiltinfatuation Thursdays
Esther's blog Wednesdays 
  Midweek makers wednesdays
http://tweloquilting.blogspot.com/
sew stitch snap share
 Free motion by the River Tuesdays