So as you can see I didn't do that dragon, but, I'm going to keep him for the future. When I was looking through the photos from yesterday I realised that I had taken a number that were reflections in the ponds around the pagoda. Reflection in water has a strange effect on me. The closest I can come to explaining it is to compare the emotions it raises to listening to Brahm's Third Symphony, the third movement. ( I have added a You Tube clip of this at the end of this post.)
So these are some of the images that caught my attention.
The thing I liked about all of them was the leaf litter floating in the water. They had the appearance of being on top of the reflection like marks in an old mirror. But there was too much detail for a 6" block so I put the image into photoshop and started to play around with it. I ended up selecting a dry brush finish and croping the image to gain the most contrast.
I knew that when printed onto fabric the colours would be a lot darker so lightened the exposure a little. I only have a cheap bubble jet printer so there are lots of limitations. After printing the fabric I outline quilted the image and then added my layer of leaf litter with appliqued shapes. I would have liked the colours to be truer so next time I will make a trip to a print shop to see if I can get a better result.
And so the Brahms. There are a number of renditions of this piece on You Tube. I have selected Von Karajan version as it is lighter. More beauty and less pain. I have read so much about Clara Weber but didn't know she was so beautiful. Brahms has put all his love and longing into this composition.
Love it, love the music and the idea....
The shape is just super.
Posted by: Pam Holland | 12/07/2009 at 04:47 AM
You have captured the reflections and the floating leaves really well.
Posted by: Judy B | 12/07/2009 at 08:01 AM