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Saturday, December 5, 2009

"Simply Dreadful"

"Simply Dreadful" is a portrait of my 19 yr old grandson, (my son's son) who does indeed wear his hair in this wild manner! I think for him it has some spiritual significance. I have taken the liberty to give them COLOR! The art quilt measures 17" X 19" and is made of brown felt and cotton fabrics. The face is hand dyed cotton from Dyed Candy/Chris of Shady Grove blog/etsy store. Thanks Chris.
The dread locks are hand dyed (by me) repurposed dryer sheets rolled up and hand stitched.
I did my best to follow the directions of Maria Elkins "Making Portraits" article in The Quilting Arts Book by Patricia Bolton. I am challenged by a brain that does not follow directions easily, especially when I am told to put Steam a Seam 2 on my fabrics...as sometimes I put it on the wrong side (even though after I do that my mistake makes the correct way obvious) I am likely to do it wrong again. I become quite frustrated in the cutting and layering of fabrics to get the portrait just right. And that is why his face lacks shadows and depth. And why he has no whites in his eyes! So be it.
I love the 3-Dimensionality of the dreads!
I also used gold metallic thread, and paint sticks to bring out some of the
spirals in the back ground, which is sewn free motion style
all over in spirals. Gold thread is left hanging free off some of them.
I then put on a frame of binding, something I haven't done
on one of my FREE STYLE quilts in long time.
I wanted the wild and crazy part to be the head and hair!
Let me know what you think.
I may very well do this one again, as this is a gift to be given soon,
and I'd love to see how one like it would do in a show.

14 comments:

  1. This must be a huge hit...its so different from the rest of ur works. Its amazing...the locks are gr8. The 3d appeal is quite fabulous. The spirals are very beautiful. Thats something I noticed first.

    What did ur grandson say?

    Good Job, Lynn!

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  2. this is simply glorious. i would love this if i were him, done with such love, and sending the 90 year olds my thoughts, they have lived almost twice as long as my parents did. wow!

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  3. This is a beautiful portrait Lynn. It looks so lively with the three dimention of the dreads. The background spirals also gives it movement.

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  4. A wonderful gift. Love the dreads. The whole quilt is incredible. Yes, I too like the 3D effect but your quilts often seem of another dimension.

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  5. How super these dreadlocks are - you've really worked them with such creativity !!

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  6. Brilliant as usual. You do take on the hard things and they come out with your personal stamp of wonderful on them. He is going to love this. I am like you..Its very hard to follow instructions to a T. I just want to get in there and do my thing.

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  7. I am sooo behind on my blog, but am visiting everyone and just had to say...this is wild and free and love the colors and the 3-D effect and the dreds, Perfect!

    I'd love for you to do a Cornish Rex some day, marcelled fur and all!

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  8. Well, I guess it's a good thing you don't follow directions well. If I remember right, being unable to follow the directions in quilting class was the original springboard into free-form quilting. And look where that has brought you! So hooray to throwing out the instruction sheet!

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  9. I loved seeing your portrait. Wonderfully creative! I know what you mean about reading directions. I have one daughter that can only learn by reading, and another who can only learn by watching. Quilting Arts also has a DVD that shows how to do portraits step-by-step.

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  10. This is really cute. You did a great job on this. Lots of patience.

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  11. I have to say this made me smile. Just terrific. And I like how you photographed it as well.

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  12. deepa my grandson has not yet received this gift. I'll let you know his reaction when I learn of it, perhaps in another week or so.

    soul, thanks...I took your love with mine to my uncle and aunt today.

    lisa, thanks for noticing the movement of the piece.

    suki, I love your way of seeing my art!

    caroline, thank you very much.

    cris, well we have that in common, doing our own thing.

    teri, I have no idea what animal of which you speak. I will have to look into that.

    Kelly thanks for the validation about not following rules.

    Annonymous, thank you for your coming and commenting here today.

    KJ, thanks.

    Seth, so good to see you here, glad I made you smile.

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  13. lynn, it's the kind of kitties I have. I will post a close up photo on their blog for you to see...

    http://furrydancecats.blogspot.com

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  14. I think its fabulous! I love the dreads! and no whites in the eyes is possibly not such a bad thing hey?

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Thanks for leaving your comments as I love hearing from you. Your words of encouragement are why I continue to draw!