Since I was the first person in my group, I got to see the photo and I knew immediately that I wanted to use one of Gloria Loughman's techniques in my background. The technique isn't hard but it was very challenging, to me, trying to place the colors the right way so that it would be pleasing to the eye, not too drastic, and be recognizeable.
I started cutting a batch of diamonds in various sunset colors.
Once they were sewn together for the sky, I wanted to portray the water with a different directionality. Kathy Loomis had just posted on her blog about piecing gentle curves. I followed her directions and considering it was my first time doing this, was ok with how it turned out. The sky was then hand appliqued to the water area where the darker orange is.
Here is a cropped photo of the background all pieced with the tree and horizon line fused on. I then added a bit of fabric paint along the horizon line and below the tree to represent the reflection in the water.
Here is the finished piece completely quilted and faced. The moon was portrayed using the small holeless beads that you glue on. I am not quite sure this was the best technique to use since they want to flake off with too much handling. I fear as this piece gets put up in exhibit after exhibit, the beads will continue to wear off. They would be fine to use if you just hung it on the wall and left it alone.This was so much fun and when you click on the link below, you can see the original photo along with all the other pieces and how the photo changed as each person received their bit of information.
