An Endeavourer – The Journey Begins

Comet Speeding Through Space - Art quilt inspired by nature and science. Quilted And Painted Fabric with Liquitex acrylic – Whims And Fancies

 

Speeding Through Space

 

A few months ago, after I came back from a holiday, a wonderful email from my dear friend Janine was awaiting me.  She talked about a new art quilt group called The Endeavourer, hosted by her and Catherine.  We are a group of 14, creating quilts that feature a chosen theme.  This quarter’s theme was Nature.

 

I love spending time under the open sky, hiking trails while looking for small hidden surprises.  I made quite a few nature-themed paintings last year, and I was looking for another creative angle.  I love the natural sciences, specially astronomy.  Looking at nature through science-coloured glasses gives me a deeper joy and that is what I wanted to use for inspiration.  I began sketching.

 

 

Science Inspired Art - Wave Interference Double Slit Experiment by Thomas Young | Whims And Fancies

 

 

I have always had a keen interest in the properties of light.  This was my first sketch based on a double-slit experiment by Thomas Young. It demonstrates the dual nature of light.  The design was defined by simple shapes and limited colours.  That became the style for rest of the sketches.

 

 

Science Inspired Art - Quantum Mechanics Atomic Orbital | Whims And Fancies

 

 

Then I started going down the rabbit hole.  The dual nature of light sparked another sketch from my all-time favourite –  Quantum mechanics featuring atomic orbitals.  It is a function that calculates the probability of an electron’s position in a region around an atom’s nucleus.  I find the orbital shapes to be really pretty.

 

 

Science Inspired Art - Turing Pattern Tiger Stripes | Whims And Fancies

 

 

Even after two drawings, I still continued sketching.  An English mathematician named Alan Turing wrote an article on patterns found in nature.   That and my love for tigers prompted this design.  I was pretty sure this was going to be the one.

 

 

Science Inspired Art - Sea Stacks And Star Trails | Whims And Fancies

 

 

Then last week it was raining here.  I was so deliriously happy that I cast aside all work and painted Sea Stacks with Star Trails.  I love the use of blue on this painting.

 

 

Science Inspired Art - Comet Speeding Through Space | Whims And Fancies

 

 

The markings from the Turing pattern and the colour blue from the sea stacks gave me my final drawing.  As I very hurriedly sketched this comet, I knew that I had my design.  I couldn’t believe I had not thought of this earlier.

 

 

Comet Speeding Through Space - Art quilt inspired by nature and science. Quilted And Painted Fabric with Liquitex acrylic – Whims And Fancies

 

 

The rest was easy!  I used converging variable-spaced straight line quilting from corner to corner to give it a sense of motion.  Once that was done, I started painting on the finished, quilted piece.

 

 

Comet Speeding Through Space - Art quilt inspired by nature and science. Quilted And Painted Fabric with Liquitex acrylic – Whims And Fancies

 

 

Painting on dark fabric required thicker paint.  I already had a set of acrylic paints at home.  Combining that with fabric medium, I slowly painted the comet on the quilted piece.  Nature is ever changing, ever moving, I believe a comet is a perfect representation of that.

 

 

Lunar Eclispe Montage January 31, 2018 Backyard Astronomy | Whims And Fancies

 

 

I will part with this lunar eclipse photo I took yesterday.  Nature inspires me to be creative every day.  As I made those different sketches, I got to explore different facets of nature.  I thought I’d share a little about my inspiration with you today.  I will write more about the making another day.

 

-Soma

 

I am linking up with the linky parties on my Events And Links page.  Please pay a visit to some of them.

 

 

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Bramble Pillow

Scrappy Quilted Pillow | Whims And Fancies

 

 

My husband uses a small pillow on his chair for lumbar support.  The previous pillow was bought during my pre-sewing days and it definitely had seen better days.  Just like the cobbler’s children go barefoot, my husband continued to use the lumpy, torn pillow for months.  My ego also wouldn’t let me purchase a new pillow because I had dug my heels in about making the pillow myself.  So I made a commitment to make it before the holidays and started thinking about design ideas.

 

 

Bare Winter Trees Sunset East | Whims And Fancies

 

 

The window of my atelier faces the eastern sky, which, during sunset, takes on a lovely purple and pink hue called the Belt of Venus.  I love the inky black bare tree branches against that colour during winter months. 

 

 

Bare Winter Tree Sunset West | Whims And Fancies

 

 

Shortly after finishing work, I stopped at one of our west-facing windows to admire the sunset colours peering through the bare tree branches there too. 

 

 

Scrappy Quilted Pillow | Whims And Fancies

 

 

Then my eyes wandered over to the bookcases right beside the window.  The bare trees and the bookshelves gave me an idea for the pillow design.  I pulled out a few black and white tree-themed fabrics and a few scraps of textured solids.  I picked a textured grey for the background to keep a monochromatic look with splashes of colour from the solids.

 

 

Scrappy Quilted Pillow | Whims And Fancies

 

 

After cutting a few strips of the tree fabrics,  I made a few multicoloured, randomly-stitched stripes with the solid fabrics making them look like book spines.  I stitched them together with a few thin strips of grey background fabric in between and added a darker grey at the base.  It made the impression of a little bookshelf for the pillow front. 

I picked a shade of purple thread for the purple sky and varied the line spacing a little to add a little bit of interest.   If you are wondering, the spacing between the lines are 1/2″, 1/2″, 1/4″ and so on.

 

My dear husband never complains.  When I grumble about not getting enough done, he becomes my voice of reason and reminds me that there are only 24 hours in a day.  It felt great to make this for him.  I had to convince him to use it because he felt it should have been framed as wall art.  I am flattered!!

Happy sewing,
-Soma

 

I am linking up with the linky parties on my Events And Links page.  Please pay a visit to some of them.

 

 

 

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