Gallery of past work

Saturday 27 January 2018

Architectural inspiration

I made a pact with myself when I wasn't blogging last autumn that, if I came back, I would only post when I felt I had something I really wanted to show - hence a fresh silence. However, after three weeks of little new thought while I stitched pieces for an upcoming exhibition and revisited the Photoshop class I took last summer (of which more in another post), I've turned my thoughts back to my archive of photos. I take an enormous number of them, especially when I'm travelling, and almost all my work is a response to this archive.

These small experiments for a series of pieces (each currently about 13 cm square) have developed from a photograph I took in Vancouver BC last summer and are a follow on to the rather more random set I showed in November.







I was fascinated by the angles I could see within the original image and by the contrasting textures generated by the glass and concrete surfaces when I enlarged it. Like many modern high rise buildings this one had energy-efficient glass in the large windows which also gave particularly good, and interestingly distorted, reflections of nearby buildings.


I made many small croppings, especially around the section marked on the photo above. This seemed to enhance the movement within the group of pieces, particularly when I rotated and flipped them. I followed my usual practice and turned the croppings to black and white and adjusted the levels of brightness and contrast.

I then added some additional lines to the surface to accentuate the design. These may become stitches when I work on them further - and the pieces may well become larger.


4 comments:

  1. l' angle droit ne me plait pas trop, mais les reflets dans les vitres me font rêver! bises

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    1. Merçi Elfi, pour votre remarque. Les reflets s'ajoutaient, les uns sur les autres, pour donner les images extraordinaires et comme des mirroirs compliqués et toujours fascinants. Je les aimais beaucoup!

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  2. Interesting exercise - I can see patchwork blocks there. xx

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    1. I’m not a quilter or patchworker (I lack the necessary discipline and become too easily bored with the structure) but I can see what you mean. Interestingly, I’m considering putting them together (with stitches) to make a 3D piece - a sort of paper patchwork? And much quicker!

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