Black Rocks

    I am currently working on a piece which will hopefully be entered in the SAQA show called "My Corner of the World" ... haven't got a title for it yet. One of many picturesque sites in Nova Scotia is Peggy's Cove ... a place where, even with signs that say 'Stay off the black rocks', invariably a tourist gets swept into the water by rogue waves every year. Many do not survive. There is a debate on how to make the place safer without ruining the whole nature of Peggy's Cove. 
     In Nova Scotia (and likely all the maritime provinces) black rocks signify wet rocks. If a wave has already crashed on the wet, black rock you are standing on, then it will most certainly do it again.
     But ... the tourists are not from here.  What is the possibility that they don't understand the meaning of the signs??? Before I moved here, black rocks meant basalt, coal or even chromite. Even if a rock may appear black when it is wet, it does not mean it is a black rock.  Something to think about.

     So ... there are black rocks in my quilt; the tide had just started to go out. And this section along the rock pile is what I am most pleased about ... using a combination of dark brown and black threads & a variety of grey fabric, I have created my own east coast 'black rocks'!

     It is hard to decide how much tiny detail needs to added ... when to put in more or just stop!  When I took the photo, you could see waves breaking on a rocky shoreline on the far side of the bay, but I decided that a small bit looked better than all the way across.

     At the moment, I am still working on the shading of boats .... how much or not enough?? I have already taken out shading on one edge of the rust-coloured boat .... didn't like the look of it, so I will have to stare at the piece for awhile to decide what, if anything, needs to happen. Not sure if I like the bottom of the cream-coloured boat either. Hmmmm.

Colour Study 1 & 2

     Where has the time gone?? How did we get to November already??
     October was busy ... helping out my daughter & her family in their move, babysitting and dog-walking; making several pairs of footed pants for C. (so she can't pull off her socks in the cooler weather); a new quilted play mat  for C; refitting a bunting bag given to me by my grandmother when Kate was born to now become a warm cover for Charlotte in her stroller and of course, the normal monthly things like quilt meetings and bees, an executive quilt meeting , writing group meetings ... and there is probably more that have slipped my mind.
     Did I get a chance to quilt! Yes ... I finished the "Crossing the Harbour" piece (a picture of that at a later date); I am working on a second possible entry piece for the SAQA Corner of My World (due by the end of this month!) and ...
     I have started a Colour Study.  Originally I thought to do the same picture (eg a door or a window) in the different colour styles, but my daughter has decided to challenge me. She has taken one of her pictures from when she lived in St John's Newfoundland and cut it into 9 sections. Randomly, I am given a section and must apply a colour challenge to it.

 Challenge #1: Complementary Colours

     Obviously a roof line with power lines running through it .... I chose orange & blue.

     Usually when working on an art quilt, I give myself a little leeway on the exactness of the picture ... but I don't think I can do that this time .... the roof lines and the power lines will need to match up somewhat closely to the pictures on either side of it.

Challenge #2:  Analogous Colours
     I chose yellow-green as the main colour along with yellow and green.

     Although I have been given a grey photograph, my daughter laughed when she saw my finished piece ... the original colour of the house in the centre is actually yellow!

     I still have a little more detail to add to the house. Each finished block is approximately 10 X  8 inches. When all the blocks are done, the final picture will be approximately 30" X 24"

Triadic and Tetradic are the next two to do. :-)