Cindy Grisdela 2012

Here’s a sneak peak at the new piece I’ve been working on as a commission for one of my collectors–it doesn’t even have a name yet.

This will be another one in the series using a central improvisationally pieced block with a solid background and stripes, similar to Red Totem. I started with the lime green rectangle in the center, then added new shapes around the block to build up to the finished design. I don’t know what it’s going to look like when I start and I make the design decisions as I go along based on what looks right with what I already have. It’s a very

Cindy Grisdela 2012

intuitive, organic process that’s endlessly interesting to me.

As an example of what I mean, the image on the right was a previous version of the same block. It didn’t seem right, somehow, so I left it overnight and went back to it the next day. The long brown strip on the bottom seemed boring–too much of a strong line, so I took it out and added a blue and a green rectangle that you can see on the lower left of the top block. The green shape visually extends the green rectangle above it and adds just the right amount of movement.

The two pictures were taken in different light situations, so one is darker than the other even though they’re the same piece. Maybe I need to figure out the settings on my camera better!

If you’d like to know more about my intuitive design process, I wrote an article describing it on my January Newsletter. Click on the “January News from Cindy Grisdela Art Quilts” in the Newsletter Archives on the right side toolbar to access it.