Creative Block? [Part 2]

Last week I wrote about creating a quilt by copying one of my favorite artists, Maria Shell. Here’s a link to that entry in case you missed it. The first thing I learned by copying Maria Shell is that she is a master of color. Her quilts may look simple and random, and the construction might be easy, but she’s got some kind of color sense. I think I have good color sense, but Shell is a master. Let me show you what I mean.

It’s good to have a whole lot of strips already cut up before you begin sewing.

And it’s even nicer if you have them organized, not wadded up on your table.

Even though I had a recipe for my blocks, I still needed to audition colors.

It helps to use the camera on your smartphone to look at the blocks because you notice things you don’t catch with the naked eye. In addition, you might like the block while it is lying on the table, but you might not like it when you see it on the design wall. For example, you won’t see the cross stripes, if they are the same value as the edge of your strips.

Or even after fixing it, having the cross strip too close to a seam can make the strip look like a comb.

Small amounts of an odd color are okay, but when you use too much in one block, it can be really distracting.

If you place your strips in value order, it will give you a completely different look. See the almost-hombre look created with the yellow and off-white?

Over time you may decide your favorite block is not your favorite block anymore.

And what you hated about a block, the cross stripes being too large and wonky, may keep saying, “Look at me. You like me, you really like me.”

So here’s the final quilt. I love making quilts where one side is completely different than the other.

And what you’ve all been waiting for . . .

And just in case Maria Shell is reading, don’t worry. No one on the Antiques Road Show from the year 2099 will say this might be one of Maria Shell’s less successful pieces. I “signed” my name on each block. It may be hidden, but it’s there.

Have you every copied a famous artist? What did you learn?