Orange Proportion

In one of my art groups we have a monthly exercise where we take an art or design principle and come up with a little quilted piece utilizing that theme. The September theme was proportion, which was harder than it sounded. Most of my work is about pattern and surface design as well as color and texture, and I don't think consciously about proportion.

I took an old sketch from a figure drawing class (that I did over 30 years ago and saved, thinking 'someday I might need this'). I reduced the figure to fit a 5"x7" space, then printed it out of the computer onto cotton that had been ironed to freezer paper. I added an orangeish background with water-soluble oil pastels and quilted it by machine with red-orange thread.

One of the group members commented that it reminded her of hot flashes...an idea that was probably in my subconscious mind. The figure had interesting proportions because I did it from the ground looking up, so the arms and head seem small and out of proportion to the body, but it did make it more interesting to have the unusual angle. I chose the orange background to contrast with the turquoise crayon/pencil that I used to do the original sketch.