Wednesday, May 14, 2014

Watercolor....reality check

  Between loads of laundry, I have been adding squares to fill in the areas.  Time for a photo to really see how it is coming........nothing like a reality check here.
  Right off, I realize that the outer row needs to be dark all the way around.  I got too light on both sides.  The outer row is my self-border, and if it is dark enough everything else will pop.
   Most of us have an abundance of medium value fabrics, and some light value fabrics, and a few dark value fabrics.  For watercolor quilts, I find you need more than a few dark values.  I like variety, so I went shopping in the stash closet for those uncut dark values.  The very best dark values are floral prints on a black  or dark green background. See photo below for examples of fabrics I would use.


 


  I marked a couple of areas in this photo to show areas I feel need to be reworked also that are in the center.  Where I marked Darker is just too muddy.  By making it darker, the light cascade should appear stronger.   The area I marked as Too Light needs to be  more medium in value.



 

    Final reality check photo.  Ah.....much better.
I only see one or two spots that I can touch up.  And then I will need to fuse everything in place before sewing.  The fusing to the interfacing takes time....I do a few rows at  a time and take a break.

   Emails and questions have been filling the mailbox in the last few days.  Most of the questions have been answered in long ago posts that are buried among other things. I have tried to put links to them on the Watercolor Tutorial page at the top.  So, if you have stumbled across this and are looking for watercolor directions, please start there.


   I am behind on my Let's Book It project.....I promise to do a quick tutorial on the block construction next week.  The dozen blocks I have gotten done, look great I think.  And they are quick and easy.

  Got your post ready for The Blogger's Quilt Festival?  It goes live on Friday and Amy says that Babylock is donating a new machine for a prize to entrants!!!  So if you have a need, you might like to check it out.

   I am teeming with ideas after guild meeting this week.....there just aren't enough hours to get to all of them, but that is another post.  Till then, happy stitching.  

4 comments:

Janet O. said...

When you point out what needs "value correction" I can see it. But if I just looked at it on my own I wouldn't be able to pick out what you see. The final check is beautiful!

Vroomans' Quilts said...

Your color theory is wonderful!

Mary said...

Beautiful work as always. Thank you for sharing your process.

Dana Gaffney said...

It looks like a waterfall of light, very beautiful.

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