The Kissing CousinsI have had the most fun today. It's been about a week since I've been able to work on portraits. One of my problems is getting the right photo. I need two things in a photo for me to make successful portraits. First and foremost I really need to like the photo. Secondly and as important is a photo with good contrast.
This photo fit both criteria. I feel so elated when I get a piece that I deem successful. I think I am going to frame this one with fabric. I have been putting a matte around the pieces so far and not really committing them to be or not to be quilted. I still haven't made up my mind yet but I do have another option I am going to try. I want to put the portrait in a stretched frame and paint over it with a clear paint. Does anyone have any suggestions as to what kind of paint or medium to use?
Marilyn,
ReplyDeleteThis is a lovely and tender moment you have captured wonderfully in this little quilt. Now how will you actually do the quilting. I have a baby face that I've stewed over for a month. These children are so 'wrinkle free', I keep wondering how the quilting will affect this.
Admiringly,
ann
Ann, Honestly I don't know. That is why I've procrastinated in quilting this pieces. Marilyn Belford, a master in fabric portraits, does not use much quilting in her work. She does a small zig-zag around each piece of fabric and does minimal quilting lines, such as, around eyes, mouth, etc. You might look at the web site. She also has a book "Portraits for Fabric Lovers" that you might find interesting.
ReplyDeletePam Holland, a wonderful artist from Australia, also does portraits and she has some with children that are minimally quilted. Hope this helps.
Just fabulous! For stiffening fabric, here is what some members of the yahoo fabriccolorists group use. Elmers white glue mixed half and half with water for stiffening. If they want to give an even more protective decoupage surface, they mix 3 parts glue to 1 part water. They say this is a Modge Podge subsitute. I stretch many of my fabric art quilts and on a couple of the ones I've painted, I used heavy gloss gel medium (different brands at Michaels) over the top. However, I wanted to give it an oil ptg look and used brush strokes. I've also used this medium on wall murals but not sure if you want to use this or not. It is pretty thick, but can be thinned with water. I plan to try the Elmers glue method myself the next time I want to stiffen fabric as it is much less expensive than the gel medium. You can buy the Elmers by the gallon at Lowe's. Please let us know what you decide and how it turns out.
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