Reflections and the Golden Hour for SAQA

Reflections and the Golden Hour

So the Studio Art Quilts Associates is working with Andover Fabrics to create designs for their second fabric line, to be juried by Luana Rubin.  The line will be titled The Golden Hour, that hour of dusk or dawn when the interplay between warm light and cool shadows is most fascinating for artists.  SAQA members may create any patterns using any means for submission.  ‘They’ get to choose the color ways, so the designer is really just putting forth patterns for consideration.  It is free to enter, and so I took some time to develop some samples.

I was inspired by the thought of sunlight glinting off water.  SAQA and Andover want designs that will work well as textures, blenders, and backgrounds.  Think complementary colors.  I also was inspired by a recent class with Cas Holmes, where we crumpled paper before painting it (I didn’t even have to dye fabric!).  The textural effect reminded me a lot of light reflecting off water.

Some Sample “Reflections”

I called my submissions Reflections I, II, and III.  Carson McCullers, a favorite southern gothic author of mine, wrote a novel called Reflections in a Golden Eye.  No relation.  Here are some of the samples I worked up:

A low contrast version with lights and darks on a medium value background.
A low contrast version with lights and darks on a medium value background.

 

A high contrast, more linear  version.
A high contrast, more linear version.

 

saqa golden hour 001
Light, mediums, and darks on a white background.

 

Light and dark paints on white ground, in a larger scale.
Light and dark paints on white ground, in a larger scale.

 

Light and dark paint on a background that goes from light to medium to dark.
Light and dark paint on a background that goes from light to medium to dark.

 

Light on dark, with a larger scale, more random pattern.
Light on dark, with a larger scale, more random pattern.

I did some more samples, but I could only submit three for consideration, so I won’t post my least favorites here. Which ones do you like?  Can you see them as fabric in your stash in your favorite colorway?  Wouldn’t it be cool to say you had designed a fabric line?  Keep your fingers crossed for me!

 

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