Opposition between contemporary and traditional architecture

To represent architecture in Canada, I did not choose an architect or a place. I simply wanted to compare the architecture as it existed at the time of the settlement of Canada by the pioneers, with the modern architecture that is currently present in the cities of this country.

I was inspired by two photographs, one of the glass façade of a building in Toronto and one of a structural detail of a log cabin taken at the Ottawa museum. I wanted to show the contrast of the glass and metal and its cold beauty with the dark but warm side of the wood. But I also wanted to compare the height and slenderness of the one with the small space of the other where you can imagine the fire and the smell of the smoke.

For the glass structure I first traced the life-size windows onto the fabric using an inktense pencil for the grid. Then I used inktense blocks to colour the fabric in two shades of blue. Then I sprayed the whole thing with water and Gel Medium.  In some places I reworked the colour with the block to darken the colour. On the windows I also used pearlescent seta-color paint for the highlights.

For the log cabin side I ironed my cut out fabric on the blue part first and then on the fleece. The quilting is done with a brown variegated thread and the fabric is reworked with inktense blocks to reproduce the smoky look of this enclosed space. For the building, quilting done with silver and black metallic thread, the window frames are reworked with a silver felt pen. The quilt is faced.