Guest Artist Vicki Miller
Ode to Namatjira
This is an art quilt, measuring about 55 X 45″. It is based on a painting called “Ghost Gums – Mt Sonder” by a famous Australian Artist – Albert Namatjira. The original painting was painted before I was born, and Albert also died before I was born, but his art had an huge influence on me as I was growing up.
The piece was created from an initial layer of fused fabrics, mostly my own hand dyes. I began fusing the main elements, using a pattern I had drawn up, but once the main parts were established, I just looked at my original picture and cut pieces that looked right on the design wall. I covered this layer with tulle, not to hold it down, but because I felt the colors in the background mountains needed toning down.
Finally, I layered the quilt and did a lot of thread painting and quilting to define the picture more.
I often look at this piece and wonder how I ever created such a thing. It is my favorite work.
See more of Vicki’s quilts here.
Forest fungi
This pastel painting was created whilst I was a member of a large painting group. It is from a photograph of some toadstools under pine trees outside the studio where I was working.
I think this piece was really the one where I defined my technique, which is not really a traditional pastel technique. I like to smudge my dry pastels and blend the colors to get a more realistic effect. I use a very rough paper or board and use many layers to build up the colors.
Most of my work now centers around fiber art and I am sure this painting will become an art quilt at some point.
See more of Vicki’s pastel work here.
About Vicki Miller
I am a new fibre artist, but have dabbled in art all my life. I enjoy experimenting and trying new ways of doing things, which is how, after I started traditional quilting about six years ago, I ended up doing art quilts. I live in Australia, way out in the bush and do a lot of my learning on the net. Recently this has led to me joining an international fiber cyber journey (challenge) called Tangled Textiles, where eight of us are working together in a similar manner to twelve by twelve (in fact,Diane Perrin Hock put our group together) Our first reveal is on the 15th June.
victoriaedm1.blogspot.com (Fibre Art)
tangledtextiles.blogspot.com (Challenge)
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