I liked it a lot better. But then I noticed the busy box in the bottom row. (Actually there are two busy ones down there.) ANYTHING close to the edge of a piece of artwork that draws your eye there (usually it is something with strong contrast) is not a good thing. Because your eye will then be drawn OUT of the artwork, and that's bad. It's a Design Rule and it's based on how your brain sees things, so don't bother disagreeing with me. You won't win that argument. If you are making a piece of art (a quilt is a piece of art) your point is to get your viewer to look at it, not away. So YES you want to control the movement of your viewer's eye.
It's kinda funny. When I talk to quilt guilds or students I tell them I want my quilts to shout, "Look at me, look at me, LOOK. AT. ME."
"ME! ME! ME!"
"NOW LOOK AT ME SOME MORE!"
"Don't look at that other quilt, LOOK AT ME! LOOKATME LOOKATME LOOKATME!"
I pause. They shift in their seats uncomfortably. They look askance. "SO are you going to tell me I'm an egocentric crazy lady?" I ask them. "IF YOU HAVE A QUILT in a show, what do YOU think?" I ask them. "You think the same thing, right? Because if you don't, YOU ARE LYING!" Now they laugh.
"You want your quilt to be the CENTER OF THE UNIVERSE! You want EVERYONE to look at it, and look at it, and then look some more. TO DO THAT, you have to follow some basic design rules to keep your viewer's attention..."
That's WHY I take so much time fine tuning the layout of my quilts. Because I don't just want them to just look nice. I want them to be DROP DEAD KNOCKOUTS.
(True story. The Selvage Fairy once commented to me, "It's interesting that you think the worst something can be is nice." Now she'll correct me because I'm pretty sure I have the quote wrong, but you get the idea.)
So I moved about a dozen of the boxes. I rearranged them so I didn't have too may busy ones together. I moved them so there weren't too many quiet ones together. I moved them so the greens and the reds didn't sit next to each other. I moved some so the REALLY busy ones weren't too close to an edge. I moved them so prints with similar shapes were not sitting next to each other. Given the fact that I don't have an infinite number of blocks it's rather tricky, but I did my best.
9 comments:
... and did very well! Thank you for a great lesson in the psychology of looking. I always learn so much from your blog posts.
A present...for ME?!? Your birds have great taste in gift wrap. They are always a treat. I have missed reading your blog.
I learn so much reading your blog and how you "work" your creations until they're just right. Thank you for sharing your process and knowledge. I was trained as a scientist, not an artist so this is all important information to me now as a quilter.
I learned more today - you put in words what I try to do (unconsciously). However, I don't like the last box, lowest right. The ribbon seems too dark for the box, in my humble opinion. Anxious to see this one all put together!
That's pretty much what I remember saying. Most of us are happy when things look nice. But you are such a perfectionist about your own art, that to you "nice" means "Hmmm, needs work".
This quilt is WAAAAYYYY better than "nice".
I agree - the two in the bottom row needed to be moved into the body of the quilt. Great job! I admire your persistence. I too quickly just want to be done and on to the next project...
I love this quilt, and your process. I always learn a lot from every blog post. There is one box you didn’t move and my eye is always drawn to it. Not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing. It’s the box with the deer and I think it’s because the bird on the top row and the bird on the third row each mirror the direction that the deer are facing/looking. I keep coming back to the same area of the quilt each time I look at it.
Reading yesterday's description of you moving blocks around, I had a flashback to making the color wash wall hanging in Wanda's class. Move this one, now those aren't right, switch those around, rats! now there is not good. Stand back, photograph, move again, check the fabric stash, try again, walk away for a few hours and repeat until it comes together. Maybe toss in a fabric shopping trip or two in there.
I'm liking the last layout, and knowing why that box on the bottom was not quite right.
Thank you for sharing your ART wisdom with us! We all need a reminder now and then.
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