Adventures in Design: Proportion and Scale(s)

“Fishy, Fishy” 9” x 7.5”, made by Pam Geisel June 2013

Proportion and Scale are the design elements for the next piece. In her book “Adventures in Design” Joen Wolfrom defines Proportion as “how shapes interact with each other within a design” and Scale as “a composition and its total design.” It is also a good way to let the viewer know that something is nearer or farther away, and also what is most important.

Our assignment was proportion is a slightly different sense. Instead of the proportion of shapes, we were given a photo and instructed to make a quilt using the same colors in the photo in the same proportion. 

Luckily for me the colors I’ve been using all along were in the photo I was given. (OK, there's a bit more dark blue in my quilt than in the photo, but it was a place to start.)

For my literal interpretation I decided to use two fish for my subject matter. One is larger with larger scales and a larger eye, and a smaller fish with smaller scales and a smaller eye, although in this design the smaller fish could also just be a smaller fish. Of course literally scales are part of a fish.

Some techniques I used include couched thread for the seaweed and hand-attached mussel shell “coins” for the fish scales.

Tomorrow...Adventures in Design: Texture

More about this quilt and the Adventure in Design series