Try It Out Thursday : Working To A Theme

Today's post is not quite what I'd intended; I've had a couple of domestic crises, today, leaving me unable to actually make the piece... but I thought I'd talk about the thinking process for something like this.  Well, okay, my thinking process; you may approach working to a theme quite differently.  And that's as it should be.

Of course, you begin with the basics; what do you want the journal for?  What size does it need to be?  I talked about the basic process of making a cover in Tuesday's post, so I won't repeat it, except to say that you can decide for yourself what size you want the inner flaps! 

What theme?  I try to start with the bigger picture, and then work my way down into the detail.  My current interest is flowers, so I thought I would make that my starting point.  I have made a number of garden themed quilts and paintings, all with mixtures of bright colours.  As it is springtime, I intend to make a background of greens, yellows and pinks as a base, using transfer paints, in a similar way to my earlier works. Once I have transferred the colour to the base cloth, I will start to think about how to add some specific floral shapes onto the background... so watch this space...