a la Van Gogh

August 2, 2017

Debbie Herbst and Ana Sumner had their submissions selected to participate in the Cherrywood Fabric Van Gogh display and show. Congratulations! Selected August 10, 2017.

Yesterday (August 1) marked the deadline for submission of our quilts to the Cherrywood Fabric Van Gogh Challenge so now I can blog about it.  Cherrywood Fabrics is located in Baxter, MN, my home state, but I order online and have never been to their MN facility. Their fabrics are solid color, 100% cotton that looks and feels like suede. The Thread Whisperers, three friends and I who formed our own art quilter’s group, all agreed to enter this challenge. We love the works of Van Gogh and were energized to see if we could recreate his work or his vision in cloth and surface design. If you remember Van Gogh’s artwork, you will realize the challenge of turning this solid fabric into the energized work he did. Here’s a sample of his work: Van Gogh Museum. We could choose a theme from orchards, paths, flowers, trees and portraits, among others. We have a nice variety among the four of us, all of which were required to be 20″ square. If we do not receive entry into the Cherrywood display, we have a show of our own coming up in August 2018 at the Page-Walker Art Gallery and History Center in Cary, NC in which you will be able to get up close and personal.

DEBBIE IS A CHERRYWOOD FABRICS VAN GOGH FINALIST!   CONGRATULATIONS, DEBBIE!

Debbie Herbst chose to illustrate the flowers on an almond tree with quilted lines adding the energy and movement so present in Van Gogh’s works.

All rights reserved. ©Debbie Herbst  2017

ANA IS A CHERRYWOOD FABRICS VAN GOGH FINALIST!         CONGRATULATIONS, ANA!

Ana Sumner (click the link to see her webpage) created her vision of Van Gogh’s orchard. It is called “Oliveriae”.

All rights reserved. ©Ana Sumner  2017                                                                                                          Ask permission at Ana’s web page.

Shirley Perryman used her considerable piecing and quilting skills to create her vision of a starry night. The movement created by the half-square triangles and the curved quilting lines speaks to Van Gogh’s style.

All rights reserved. ©Shirley Perryman  2017

I chose to create portraits in the Van Gogh style. In order to add movement to this solid fabric, I created two layers. The shadow layer is directly beneath the top layer, which is appliquéd. After sandwiching those two layers with batting and a backing, I quilted the movement lines and then cut away snippets to allow the shadow layer to show through. That was followed by a layer of tulle and an outline with couched yard or pearl cotton.

All rights reserved. ©Mary A Ritter 2017                                                                                  Ask permission at maryritter45@gmail.com

My second entry in the Van Gogh challenge depicts my husband enjoying a relaxing respite on the Paseo in Alicante, Spain in 2015.

All rights reserved. ©Mary A Ritter 2017                                                                                      Do not use these images for any purpose without permission of the artists listed.     Your punishment will be worse than having your tongue stuck to a frozen pipe!       Ask politely and “most likely” permission will be granted.