Laurie Russman – NeonKitty Quilts

It all began when I attended the opening of a new exhibit at Louisville’s Speed Art Museum: “Alphonse Mucha: Art Nouveau Visionary.” I was familiar with Mucha’s style as we already love vintage posters…this exhibit was a total immersion into his style, palette and sources of inspiration. It was an irresistible challenge- could I move the boys from Van Gogh’s world into the subtle tones and flowing lines of Mucha’s style?

The composition suggested itself: Jackson 🐈‍⬛ and Loki 🐈 in the same pose, framed this time by greenery, flowers and (lots of) swirling lines. Unlike my Starry Night piece, this one needed to be in portrait, not landscape, mode. Also unlike that piece, this time I would need to work with a palette WAY out of my comfort zone. My Cricut cut a very dark green Jackson and a pale peach Loki, to be Mistyfused against a circle of vines (drawn in Procreate)…and went into the back of my mind while I finished another project.

After stitching my Advent Joy Quilt daily series (whew), I returned to this piece. Hmm. For one thing, it needed a second cut of Loki to be placed atop the first (ah the translucence of pale fabric). And LOTS of flowers and leaves cut out…easy as I have nearly every color in Anthology Batik’s Lava Solids collection

The thread palette was another matter as most of my colors tend toward bright/clear. I selected some from my beloved big blue box (yes you need one of these!—

But I needed some other subtle shades…Team Aurifil for the rescue for the ones I needed ❤️! This piece was primarily created with my fave 28wt thread, which really helps to bring elements to life.

Oooh. OK from this point the piece went quickly as I added a decorative arch and greenery…and a floral crown on Loki’s head as is frequently seen in Mucha’s renderings of women ;). As always, I had a little help composing the scene…

My digital sketchbook came in handy as I re-used the cutting image of a tiger lily, originally drawn for a Joy Quilt Project square, for the dozen small blooms. In keeping with the vintage poster theme, I researched fonts popular at the time of the Art Nouveau movement and pencilled the lettering in before inking and stitching…then surrounded them with micro-stippling (thank goodness for Aurifil’s 80wt thread!) to help them stand out.

After a slow start, I became SO engrossed in this piece that I hated to finish it…and acquired a new appreciation for the beauty of more subtle colors. It also set me on a cats + art path which continues with my current WIP, in which the boys visit the world of Claude Monet 🪷 😁…stay tuned!