Value is My Thing on Off the Wall Friday

Peppermint Reindeer by Laura Heini

 This week in my spare time, I started thinking about decorating for Christmas.  To tell you the truth, I'm not all that much into decorating, mostly because it takes so much time.  What I do like is designing the composition of the decoration scheme.  Yes, you read that right.  Your decorating has a composition just like your quilts.  One thing I've learned, is that all the elements of design I've been studying over the years can be used in a myriad of ways....like planning your Christmas decorations. 

But this post is not about Christmas decorating - you can thank me later - No, I say all this because it brought to mind my favorite way to evaluate a composition....studying the value of the piece.  If you're a long-time reader, you might have noticed that value truly is my thing.  Mainly because 

Color gets all the Credit, but Value does all the Work

Gosh, I must have been told that by the late great Joan Colvin about 20 years ago and it still holds true.  I pulled some truly random quilts from my Pinterest board to show you what I mean.  (I really did randomly choose them - mostly because they could be easily attributed).

Let's look at detailed look at embroidery textile by Mary Ruth Smith

Great right?  When you first look at it your just taken by the great use of shape and line.

Take the color out and you can see how it's all about the value in the composition.  The contrast between light and dark is giving this heavily graphic piece a lot of much needed depth.  Also, it emphasizes the use of line to form more movement and rhythm which would otherwise have come off very flat.  The darkest parts are acting like a solid ground for all that movement of line going on.  Without color to distract you, it's much easier to see what is truly going on.

This is An Evening Out by Colette Behrends 

Talk about a lot to unpack with this piece...WoW!  When you first look it's all about taking in how she so masterfully captured the moment.  It's all so relatable.  I love how it's figurative but still abstract.  The colors just add to the vibrancy of the piece eluding joy and energy.

Step back with this version of it...

Now you can better comprehend the composition.  See how easily you can see how she laid it out in a diagonal line.  Also, the focal points pop with the accents used to move your eye around the piece.  Again, the artist uses value to create depth as well as movement.   (hmmm I'm sensing a pattern).  Without getting too carried away, I also want to mention how well soft and hard lines are used in this piece.  That is a difficult thing to do and you don't see it that often done this well. 

Let's go totally abstract with a favorite of mine ...Emily Richardson's Original Copy (I want to confess a true bias where Emily's work is concerned.  I loved it from the moment I saw it, Then I took a 5 day class with her and it added this whole sentimental twist to my crush on her work)

Amazing right?  Now you can see why I have quilt crush.  The palette is so effective in this piece with it looking ethereal.  I love how the abstraction lets the viewer choose their own take on what it represents.  Honestly, in this form I just get lost in studying how the orange/yellow interacts with the blues. 

But in gray scale we get another look at it..

And for the third piece in a row  - what is value creating? Movement and Depth.  Honestly, this whole composition is about movement and depth.  With the color removed it's truly evident.  

So why do this exercise?  Just to play with pretty art quilts...well yeah...but mostly, it's to show that you can do it with your own work.   Traditional quilts or art quilts, it doesn't matter.  When you're laying out your compositions, take some time to take picture and desaturate it (way easier now that everyone had a camera in their back pocket for sure!)  Even take out the quilts that you think of your "dogs".  Take a value study picture of it and I bet you'll see why the quilt isn't quite working.  

Thanks for indulging me on yet another post on value.  

Oh, one last thing, so my new job has me writing a lot of emails a day. When I say a lot I mean 50-80 a day.  Twice this week - not once - but twice...people I email with mentioned the unique fashion of expressing myself through word and how they look forward to my emails.   Cracked me up - literally.  I thought, oh I know why.  It comes from chatting on blog posts for the last 15 years.  

So, thanks for that as well.  That's me this week...

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