Portrait Quilts

I’m really fascinated with making portrait quilts and am in the beginning stage of planning several. Take this photo

I need to decide how complex to make the face, so I’ve been playing with the cutout filter in Photoshop.

Should I simplify just a little bit?

A bit more?

Quilt a lot?

Or go so far that it’s only the suggestion of a face? That final image would certainly be easier to cut out and assemble, but is it pleasing?

I’ve also been playing with photos of our dog.

For "Lady at the Pond" I think this is about right. Five levels, with edge simplicity set at five, and edge fidelity set to one. Even at this simplistic a cutout, I may still need to  achieve some of the detail with thread painting rather than fabric.

And I may use the eye area from this 8 level version, as well as the tongue and teeth detail. 

If all this talk of cutouts and edge simplicity is making your head spin you might want to check out a wonderful publication called Quilting Arts. I have learned most of what I know about art quilt techniques from this magazine, and the writers regularly feature articles on how to leverage technology for better quilt-making. 

As for the projects I'm contemplating, I would love to hear what you think. We are headed off for a week at the beach in a few days, but one of these projects will be the first order of business when we return. Well, one of these, or another Ansel Adams tribute. We’ll see.