At the time I was making this piece I was pondering the very real disability of colour blindness, which is present in some of the males in our family.
The piece began life as an blue Ikea upholstery fabric and a bottle of Clorox bleach.
It was the strange year of 2020. Lockdown. Lots of time for experimentation with fabric!
After washing I used a large pipette and slowly applied neat bleach onto the fabric. It was fascinating to watch how unexpectedly the bleach ran on the warp and weft lines and created these patterns while totally removing the colour. To neutralize the bleach I soaked the fabric in vinegar and water, before storing it away.
I decided to “colour in” all the blue areas with a permanent black marker pens. This gave me the opposing colours (or shades) of black and white.
Thinking about how many nuances some of us can see within the colour spectrum, I’ve used a selection of machine embroidery threads to stitch bands of colour along the edge of the dark areas
This is a Whole Cloth quilt. Dimensions W 24″ x L40″ 100% Cotton fabric used with a polyester batting Machine Stitched
What a statement piece this quilt is. I love the colored embroidery threads which add so much movement and texture, adding highlights to the monotone colors. So unique!
That’s very interesting. When I next see him, I’ll ask my son about colour values. Thank you!
Thanks for sharing this beautiful work. The men in my family are also colorblind. I’ve often wondered about how they see the world. I like the way you showed it as color hints, barely creeping into sight.
Thank you Kat. It amazes me just how many families have colour-blind men.
Uniquely so beautiful, Janine. Looking into the changes in the colour as you moved through the project, your addition of the embroidery stitches allow for movement and seeing into the art!
Thank you Bethany
Wonderful piece. I have a son who is colour blind as well as two brothers. While he sees colours differently he is brilliant on saying whether I have the values right in my work!