Monday, May 21, 2012

Bloggers' Quilt Festival

It's time for the Bloggers' Quilt Festival. So many quilts to look at and new quilters to follow - and possible new friends too. Click on the link above or the button at the bottom of this post for the festival.

My entry is the first painted quilt I did using LuAnn Kessi's technique. This is my nephew, my daughter and her husband. I love this little quilt!


Things I learnt while making this piece:
  • less is definitely more. Stop when you still think you have more to add and it will look just right.
  • Curls don't need to be painted. An impression of curly hair is enough
  • lips are only dark in the corners
  • in fact, the main thing I learnt was to really look at the photograph and see where to apply highlights and shadows
  • let your paint dry before adding the shadows. It makes it less muddy looking.
  • Blonde hair that has darkened to a fair brown is really difficult to replicate!
  • The flange border (the cream bit) makes a good frame but remember to allow for seam allowance and the depth of the flange when trimming the painting square.

This is the original photo after I had manipulated it in FastStone. It printed out a little lighter than this. I think I would have preferred it darker and I have tried darker prints since then with interesting results. They look a little freaky before painting!
I print on to a piece of fabric ironed to the back of an A4 sheet of freezer paper. My printer only goes up to A4 which limits the size. I have access to an A3 printer so I may do some bigger ones soon.

As you can see, I only really quilted the background and the border. I outlined the main shapes with coloured thread.


Have a look at the festival by clicking on the button below.

Amy's Creative Side

12 comments:

  1. Wonderful portrait quilt! One to be cherished for a lifetime.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Love quilt portraits... YOU did a lovely job of it... I have always had trouble with NOSES.


    NONNIE

    /

    ReplyDelete
  3. What an awesome portrait quilt! What a treasure that quilt will be for your family for years to come.

    ReplyDelete
  4. What a great technique. I had not seen this before. Kudos to you for such a wonderful result.

    ReplyDelete
  5. What a fantastic portrait quilt! Thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Wow, that is incredible! Great job!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Wow!! I love it. It's beautiful!!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Thanks for sharing about your process - that's a lovely quilt!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Beautiful portraits! Lovely treasure for the generations.
    Have a great day.
    Always, Queenie

    ReplyDelete
  10. I love portraits doing portraits too ( see www.fab-lover.blogspot.com). I'm keeping a notebook of things I learn as I go along and I agree noses and mouths are problems sometimes. I haven't painted a portrait yet, except with fabric, but would love to try this technique. Thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Just wanted to stop and say thank you for stopping by my blog and commenting. I didn't see an email option.

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for visiting. I'd love to know that you were here.