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Lost in Thought - part one


Recently I got it into my head that I wanted to do a small quilt that featured an abstracted nude.  Since my drawing skills are totally limited to doodling (and I'm not even very good at that), I decided to go really abstract and just design him with ovals and circles, adding only the barest minimum of details. 



I finally came up with a pencil sketch that I thought would work, and went over it with a black marker so that it would be visible through a previously painted piece of China silk.




Using the outline as a guide, I added washes of color to the different areas until I was happy with the results.  Happy = you can probably tell it's a nude male figure.  That's as close as I'll probably ever be able to get to representational work!




In looking for background fabrics, I came across the left over glue gel resist fabrics that I painted several months ago.  I moved these around behind the figure until I was satisfied.




I ripped the fabrics into roughly the shapes that I wanted to use, and placed them on a piece of batting that had been cut to size.



All the pieces were pinned into place on the batting.




When I placed the figure back on top of the background, I decided that he needed one more piece to break up the unrelieved rectangle of his space. 

Next week...construction of the quilt!



Copyright 2012 Cyndi Lavin. Not to be reprinted, resold, or redistributed for profit. May be printed out for personal use or distributed electronically provided that entire file, including this notice, remains intact.

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Comments

liniecat said…
Gosh I love this idea and its worked beautifully. And those backgrounds seem to have been made especially for this project!
Unknown said…
Your quilt is coming along nicely, and it is going to be beautiful! I admire anyone who can work so well with fabric...it's not one of my strong suits, lol!
Cherie Burbach said…
Cyndi, this is wonderful! Love that.
This is looking really good - can't wait to see how you finish this off, and the amount and effect of the quilting you do. Its very effective and a great workaround for others to follow and play with.
Wow - I saw the male nude right away. Just the suggestion of his shape is enough for the human eye.

Now my question: how did you ever visualize all those ovals to create the form?
Cyndi L said…
Eileen, I had a photo...not of anyone we know!...and I squinted at it until I saw it as nothing but ovals and abstract shapes. It worked!