Assignment: Think Big, Work Small

Debbie R. made these two compositions and I feel that they both are lacking a focal point. However, they are good design ideas and would work well as a repeated pattern for fabric or gift wrap or wall paper. 

 Susan sent this wip and a continuation of last week's assignment. How different the one below looks with figures inserted. I can imagine this one HUGE.

Apparently this assignment stumped many of you, and all I can imagine is that you feel squeamish about having your work critiqued in public. I can totally understand that. There is a lecture lurking in me, which I will not employ, only to say that I have come to a decision to end this series, and believe I have presented you all with the necessary information and techniques about fusing, and encourage you to come up with your own ideas from here forward.

Thank you all for participating, taking risks, and trying out new ideas. 

Assignment #2, Again

On the left, Mary Ann's piece from last week, and then on the right the same piece is digitally cut up, rearranged, and multiplied. Now which is better? As far as the assignment goes, the second one more closely fits the assignment, but and this is a BIG BUT, the overall composition lacks focus. Which takes me back to her first piece which is much stronger in terms of readability. We see her intentions and they are clearly placed.  There are many ways to arrange the motifs, and the second one would make a great bed quilt layout where it is not important to have a focus.

Both are great ways to learn about composition and they underscore the fact that the more you make, the more you learn.

 
 On the left Kinga Soni's assignment, and on the right two of my pieces from days gone by. Notice the strong resemblance? Hmmm. Difficult as this is to deconstruct, she did complete the assignment by making three varied size blocks, in two colors/multiple values. And while I think her piece is very well executed, it is obviously derivative and in doing so we learn little about her design ideas.

  

Susan's piece is unfinished, but submitted at the last minute last night, so we will look at it. Her blocks are varied, and the values are wonderful. It fits the less is more category, for sure. If one can imagine this six feet tall, it would most certainly be a strong statement. No filly fallying here. However, it does feel divided in two. But if turned upside down the weight of the dark L seems to ground it more. 

And it works even better this way. The very important big block has the most weight here.

At the very last minute Elly W. submitted her piece! Excellent repeated blocks, and the value and color changes are yummy. She uses the larger blocks for the focus, and repeats the idea in smaller versions. Well done assignment. 

+++++++
 For next week... This is a piece by Henri Matisse, done in 1953. It is a HUGE collage. It illustrates how important scale is. He is not worried about the quilt police one bit! Your assignment is to IMAGINE you are making a really large work for a museum exhibit. Make it small but think BIG.