I've always loved stained glass and how the light shines through it and makes it sing. I've wanted to do something with the colours for ages but was unsure what exactly, so it's just sat in the back of my mind until we went to the Kaiser Wilhelm Cathedral.
The glass was beautiful and the setting inspiring. I started by making some sketches of the colours I observed. Within the blues, there were shades o turquoise, green, pale blue, deep evening sky blue, purple, as well as golden yellow and red. I was transfixed as I tried to capture the ideas of these colours with my oil pastels. I think I did an OK job.
The idea that started to form in my head was that of replicating the feel of a stained glass window as a form of patchwork. When we got back to Chester the fun started. (What am I saying? The fun continued). I popped into Liberty Bell - a fabric shop in Chester - and spent what seemed like ages trying to get the "right" shades of material. I guess really there is no right as this is a translation of an idea rather than exact replica, but I wanted colours that would work together. In the end I decided upon 7 fat quarters and some thin, black bias binding. That done I could set about work cutting up my material into irregular shapes and then hand sewing the edges with black bias.
Progress is slow, but I'm really enjoying it and there is no real rush. This is for my own pleasure. I want to damp-stretch these individual pieces - I think that may be a good idea - and then I want to sew them together with no real plan. Just random. From there I'll cut them into larger squares and then ... I'll see what happens.I know it doesn't look very exciting at the moment and it's going to take a while to produce anything that makes sense, but I wanted to show you what I've been inspired by lately. I know I'm enjoying it because I can't put it down, I'm still in my pyjamas and I've been main-lining tea all day - a sure sign of creative endeavours.
x
3 comments:
I'm liking this.... can't wait to see the progress..
Hi! Thanks for the comment, my friend has that book and is going to lend it to me. I am feeling more optomistic already, life's too short to be overly miserable!
I'm afraid I can't reassure you about uni work, it truly is non stop madness but you know, it's fantastic, exciting madness you will love it. Cherish every minute, it's over too soon.
Bre - 6 weeks and 3 days.
Karen - No problem. I'm glad your friend has suggested it too. I'm finding it really useful and I'm glad you're feeling better.
As for my own anxieties - it's just the unknown isn't it. I'm sure it'll all be fine. I can't wait but am naturally apprehensive at the same time.
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