Experimenting results

In November last year I have been experimenting with painting the fabrics after the quilt has been finished. If you are new here, more can be seen here and here

This first picture I have shown before. I must say that I liked the quilt already here and really had to stick to my goal, or I would not have dared to do it!

However, it did not meet the image or idea I had in my head, so I started to paint...

Painting such a thing as a finished quilt feels like committing a sin, that is if you do it on a beautiful quilt, o.k. let's say a quilt that has been made for it's own beauty, for the patchwork pattern or the colours of the fabrics, the overall design.

But this experiment was to create a canvas first and then paint. So I put aside my traditional quilters attitude and a wash of very diluted Peynes Grey went on

followed by a Burnt Sienna in the bottom and Neutral Grey in the top part.
Hmmm...mostly an artist's eye is veiled somewhat upon viewing his/her own work, but I had to say that this interim result was downright ugly. Looking up close there were some parts of the quilt that still looked promising (to me!), but at first glance: Bah.
So the quilt has been laying during our holidays, and I have had plenty of time to think about it. Last week a friend of mine visited and I had the courage to show my failure. And while telling about the process and the joy I felt in the former small works and the pleasure how they came out, I decided to give it another try. It was this or throwing the whole thing away, so what was there to loose was the question

This afternoon the moment of truth had come.
After mixing Mars Black and Peynes Grey I started brushing bravely.
Though it is not finished yet (I think) it is getting more in the direction of my goal, you can see that the different fabrics all take the paint in their own way.
The quiltwork consists partly of a cross pattern of bubbles, one in vertical and one in horizontal direction. Maybe I will emphasize these bubbles slightly by painting them neutral of off white.
To be honest I must say that it took quite some courage to show my struggle with this experiment to you. But I know there are many talented and accomplished artists on the Web ,so I really hope to receive some feedback!
Longing to hear from you,

Regina