landscape art – Barbara Harms Fiber Art & More

60 MPH Sunset I finished the quilt.

In an earlier post I related my little experience after purchasing my new iphone. I was excited on the drive home, couldn’t wait to tear into that bag. So there I was digging into the bag, pulling out all the contents. I checked out all the packaging, the new clever little box that my phone came in, all the information on those mini booklets that manufactures put into the packaging with their products. You know, I was doing what everyone does with a new purchase. You’ve all done that too right?

My new phone was wonderfully full of possibilities. I began playing with my new toy. I was busy trying out all the new features on my phone. I was pretty focused on all this.

As we’re cruising along, I finally looked up from the phone. There was a breathtaking sunset, not just any ole sunset, it was a “I’ve got to get a picture of this!” kind of moment..

Obsessing over the necessity of a photo of this fleeting wonder of a sunset, I was actually distracted away from the phone. “Oh isn’t this always the way” I say to my husband “here is a perfect photo-op and where is your camera when you need it?” Home safe and sound in its comfy little camera case.

A thought starts to form in my little brain, “Well my new phone does have a built in camera dosen’t it. …humm.And I am checking out the phone’s features aren’t I?” Well I answered my own questions and descided “Yes! This would make a great test.”

I did the unthinkable, gasp, I took a photo from out of the window of a moving car. In fact, I took several photos, yes I did!!! After I downloaded them to my computer, surprise, my phone took better photos than I expected. Several in particular I really liked, a row of popular trees lining the highway silhouetted by the sunset. The minute I saw those photos, the first thing that popped into my mind was AN ART QUILT!!! .

I’ve posted photos of the quilt as it has progressed. It has taken a while even though I have been working steadily, all those many branches on my popular trees take loads of time to thread paint.

I’m finished, here is the result, 60 MPH Sunset.

A peek at the beginnings of my 60 MPA iphone quilt

As I promised, here’s a peek at the progress I have made so far on the new art quilt I’ve started. It was inspired by the photos I took with my new iPhone from the window of our moving car.I’m going to call it

60 MPH Out The Window.

The first stage is almost complete, the silk painting. I’m reasonably satisfied, it’s a good start. The next stages are the thread painting and the final quilting .

The thread painting and and quilting require thought. This can be especially true of a landscape quilt or any art quilt which requires a measure of realism. What look are you are going for?What style of art do you want? This all needs to be considered. How you plan to achieve this? It requires thought and planning. I usually need to kick this around in my mind for days to work it out.

Thread painting can add realism and detail, the texture of the bark on a tree for instance . It can create the illusion of dimension. An apple, for example, can appear spherical, not just a flat image laying there. It can come to life.

You also need to make a decision concerning the amount of detail you want. Weigh in your mind how much thread work and quilting you will need. That will definitely effect the flatness of the quilt. No one wants an uneven wavy piece of fiber art hanging on their wall. The amount thread work will effect this. It needs to be evenly spaced with similar density to lay flat. A few things to plan, but the fun starts as you see it develop.