Making a Motif work

There are a number of ways to look at design in making a quilt or a textile.  The basic design principles apply to everything from the colors you choose to the scale or size of your work.  I have been working on a piece for a month now, thinking it would go quickly, as I am using a simplified sketch I did in April, 2017, and just repeating the same block in dark to light colors. WOW ~ was it boring!  Perhaps because I expected this to be a fun exercise, and a break from making 3/4″ finished blocks, I thought I could make the same block just using lighter and lighter colors, but it was pure ugly!

It had no CONTRAST: light to dark.

It had no RHYTHM: movement.

It had no BALANCE: meh

11/7/19

These are 16″ blocks and while the PATTERN is repeated the whole piece is flat.

So I tinkered…

11/14/19

I began by slicing the large blocks into 8″ x 16″ rectangles, and began adding lighter colors. Still ugly!

So I tinkered…

11/24/19

With the addition of brighter colors, the motif comes to life a little better, and the rhythm begins to appear.

So I tinkered…

11/29/19

A motif can be tiny, or very large, and everything in between. A motif can be cut with a ruler or cut free-hand/improv style, and is open to interpretation. A motif can also be exaggerated, stretched or elongated, turned, squished so different areas are more prominent, and made of both light and dark fabrics, adding to the contrast in a piece.

A motif is a design, a theme, a figure, a shape, an element, a line, or a pattern that repeats.  This was a simple motif, Human Form #15 from my sketchbook, but what is actually bringing it to life some is the insertion of this same motif in small and light forms, as well as lighter colors in elongated form, placed between darker blocks in the 1st and 2nd row.  With the addition of interpretation for the original block, you can more easily see the shape over and over, and how it’s been altered.

I am going to keep tinkering with this…

Oh! And if you are going to Road to California 2020 look for my ‘Unfinished Conversation’ which was juried in. So thrilled to be included!

Cheers,

Beth

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