More Ramshackles - Distance: Beside

Killing 2 birds with one stone - or something.

I wanted to try to develop the Ramshackle series a bit more. I had bought fabrics to explore what different small prints might work. But there it sat. I was encouraged earlier in the summer to produce something along this line to a rather prestigious exhibition.

 Very Exciting...

Very scary.

So, that is why I was 'stuck'. So, in order to give myself momentum, I decided to sign up for entering 4 (2 groups of 2) of these for the Journal Quilts 2014 that will travel with the Grosvenor shows. Last year I made some to the theme Black and White. The theme this time was Little Landscapes. So, that would fit with the Ramshackle Houses. It would help me to be more accountable/motivated/productive.

So, I decided to explore more of the idea of Neighbourhood, which has been on my mind for a while. I did a few simple sketches to get an idea of placement for the houses and trees.(these basically are just that...very simple sketches reproduced in fabric). The idea being that these really are just trying out ideas and not for winning prizes - though I wouldn't turn one down.

And suddenly the fear is gone and I could get on with learning more about what works and what doesn't work with the processes and the designs. After all, they are 'ramshackle' to begin with in order to reduce the fear that someone will pronounce to the world that my houses aren't architecturally correct, the perspective is wrong and so on. If they are intentionally flat 2D houses and lollipop trees, no one is the wiser about what an actual house sketched by me might look like!

Anyway, so, Last Week while I was 'Not Overdoing It' for a change, I drew my houses with fabric. This week, in between baking, I am stitching them and putting the bindings on. And hopefully will have them all ready to send by the end of the week or at least the beginning of January so they arrive before the deadline which is my usual habit!

Without Further Ado...

The first one:
Exploring neighbourhood, looking at the landscape around the houses, discovering if the background colour choice affects the mood, and considering Distance. The houses are close, but there are still differences.

This is Distance: Neighbours Beside

Up to the point after fusing and before stitching. The colour in this first photo is more accurate.

Then stitched, trimmed and binding added. The photo should enlarge some if you click it, and you can see the differences of houses that look the same.

Unintentionally, the houses look like they are hugging! I wanted to know if I could depict terraced housing using my ramshackle method. Okay, I think it works. But even more, I think there is more character possible with these than I thought I could show. Thoughts to keep in mind for the future.