Saturday, December 12, 2009

A rose in autumn

This is my pink quilt for the new Twelve by Twelve challenge.
When we decided to work on a "Colorplay" series, I thought this was the perfect opportunity to just do that: play with colours, and experiment with different surface design processes, and not worry too much about the meaning of my quilts.
But almost as soon as Diane said "pink", I thought "rose", (pink in French). And an epicurean poem by Pierre de Ronsard kept coming to my mind... "Mignonne, allons voir si la rose...", where he compares the brevity of youth to the fragility of a rose.
In the meantime, I stuck to my idea of simply experimenting with colours and surface design, not willing to embark on philosophical and complicated thoughts about my age, my growing children, my wrinkles, my cute granddaughter, my emptying nest...
I held on and I started to screenprint fabric with pink and turquoise dyes. I experimented with deconstructed (breakdown) screen printing, and played on the design wall with the resulting fabrics... One of the pieces I got made me think of fading rose petals...
Then, one day, I found a tiny pink rosebud in the garden. I took a few pictures, burned two screens, and decided to incorporate it into my quilt.
But you know, I just made a pink quilt. And I like it.

And don't forget to check the Twelve by Twelve blog to see the quilts made by the other members of the group .

6 comments:

Karin said...

What a beauty this is! The rose is just perfect and I love it! (Can you tell I love pink?)

sharon young said...

I love it Françoise, the contrast of the fractured effect of the deconstruction with the delicate rose is exquisite, and the colours are perfect.
Many thanks for dropping in on the blog, the small FME's were inspired by Linda Miller http://www.lindamillerembroideries.co.uk/page3.html

The Idaho Beauty said...

Once those little ideas come to you, those connections, it's hard to keep them at bay, isn't it? This worked out well, and the addition of the rosebud didn't hurt one bit, did it? vbg

dutchcomfort said...

It turned out so beautifully Françoise! Love the rosebud and the fragments of white in the fabrics you dyed. You must have become a lover of pink now!

Linda’s Textiles said...

Love the way your pink quilt turned out Francoise and the rose bud is gorgeous!

gunnelsvensson said...

I like your quilt very much and the roseprint! Very lovely!
Happy New Year!