Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Photo Inspired

A few weeks ago I wrote about a challenge for one of my fiber art groups.  We are  to make a piece inspired by a photo, preferably taken by the artist.  When I was in Istanbul a few years ago I took a picture of this spice stall in the Grand Bazaar.  I absolutely loved the colors and hoped that it would be a quilt some day. I also took a photo of one of the minarets of the famous Blue Mosque.  It's not blue outside, but inside it is covered with magnificent blue tiles.  In Photoshop Elements I superimposed the minaret on top of the spice stall.





I used Dopioni silk for the very abstracted spice market.  I ignored all the extraneous items in the photo and just concentrated on the colors.  I quilted it with straight line quilting in triangles to mimic the piles of spices.  For the minaret I fused gray sheer polyester organza and quilted it, free-motion and straight line with a heavy royal blue Jeans Stitch thread. I also simplified the minaret a bit.  It measures about 19"  x 33".  I'm calling it "Impressions of Istanbul"

Please click on the picture for a bigger view and let me know what you think.

7 comments:

Martha Ginn said...

What an interesting and creative take on the spice market by overlaying the Blue Mosque, thereby bringing the blues into the rich yellows. The silk has a lovely glow, and your "triangle" quilting lines reference the little mountains of spices. Very nice work!

Linda M said...

I think you did a wonderful job. When I saw the picture I was wondering how you were going to do it because to me the picture was very busy. You simplified it perfectly.

Vivien Zepf said...

Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous!

U.L. said...

Very interesting approach, and wonderful result! I really like it.

Sarah said...

I love the hot spicy coloured silks and the Blue Mosque overlayed, really does make me think of Istanbul - I can hear the noise of call to prayer!!!!

ann said...

Absolutely GORGEOUS! It just shows one aspect of a photo + another photo. Wouldn't it be FUN to have a challenge using some photos, maybe a dozen or maybe 2 complicated ones?

MulticoloredPieces said...

I thought I recognized that minaret. I loved Istanbul (would gladly live there if I spoke Turkish). Lovely piece you're creating.
best, nadia