Still working on the border for the portrait….. it's taking a quite long time to illustrate….but then again I'm doing 3 projects at once.

This morning I also began working on the lilies that that are going into the quilt.

But first, let's talk about the border drapplique.

I want it to look like a tile panel.  The inspiration came from a painting, a gift I was given by one of my fabulous students when I was in Mexico last year.

Blue and white is everywhere in Mexico, whole buildings are made from tiles…. and this painting exemplifies the idea.

 

On my Frida border panel I decided to color the bird red…… I don't know if I like it, but I guess it will have to stay…. the other three borders I think will be just blue and white.

In the first photo  I am using  a small desk which is in actual fact a 100 year old Australian Oak pulpit….. it's perfect for sitting at and drawing in front of the TV… I clip a light to to the top and it's a perfect height to work on.

As I mentioned earlier, the other part of the quilt will be the two lilies Frida is holding in her hand.

I photographed these lilies in when I visited the home of Frida Khalo and Diego Rivera.

I took dozens of photos, but these are the two I've chosen to put in the quilt.

 

I needed to enlarge the photos to the size of the rough illustration I had made and then change them into a watercolor.

I used the photographic program  Corel photo Impact, but you can actually use word if you wish.

This is how to use Word:-

Open a blank page in word

Insert the picture you want to change.

Right click on the picture, a format box comes up and you go to "effects"

Click watercolor…. and you get this result.

In fact, I isolated each flower before I changed them, giving me this result.

 

You can see that the picture has been changed to look like a water color painting, the edges are are more defined in blocks of color. It makes it easier for me to choose the fabric for the project and the shading is more defined.

If you enlarge this photo, have a look at the wonderful green on the stem, I lobe the way it graduates….

I love the shape of the flower itself and the way the shadows form when the light hits it…I'm actually photographing it from just underneath the flower.