Showing posts with label new work. Show all posts
Showing posts with label new work. Show all posts

Friday, September 28, 2012

Quarterly Journal Dress


This post is also visible at the "8 That Create" blog.


I love create collages out of vintage papers.
I usually add paint and molding paste on top of them, almost covering them up...but I still love to add them for texture and the occasional peek of text.
After completing one of my larger pieces for the Old Forge show, I decided to make a sculptural type collage.
Seeing three "dresses" in the show, I decided that, even though my slant on the fashion theme was nature's fashion, I would create a dress.
A tiny dress.
Out of paper and vintage lace.

I actually made two dresses (I was having too much fun to stop!) when it was all said and done but will only send one of them.
For the first one, I used pages from a women's magazine ("Demorest's Monthly Magazine" 1878), vintage sheet music, dress pattern pieces, antique book pages and a few scraps of handmade paper.
I glued these torn pieces of paper onto a scrim type fabric with an acrylic medium.
(let that dry of course)
I used a doll dress pattern that my grandmother used (when I was a young lass) to make doll clothes out of.
It is veryyyy old...
And then I stitched the paper dress up on my sewing machine.
I added a sash at the waist with vintage netting as well as antique lace around the sleeves and bottom.

Framing was going to be a problem since it is a 3D piece.
I decided on a deep shadowbox frame. This worked great but was a bear to photograph.
Here's a shot out of the frame.


I'll add a couple of detail shots so you can see the fashion references on the dress.
I had a lot of fun making this tiny dress (overall length is about 7 inches)


Monday, April 25, 2011

Lavender

I'm trying to do some research for a new piece of artwork. Something that I have had in mind for a long time but have just now had time to really think more seriously about.

I just turned in two pieces of work for a (secret) book coming out later this year (maybe next year?)...
It's going to be an Awesome Book judging by the artists submitting work in it!

Well, back to the  research.

When I begin a new series or even a single piece of work, one of my favorite things is to research the subject. I collect images of what I am thinking about...I read articles about it...I draw it in many different ways...

I've been drawing lavender lately. Sprigs of it, flowering and non. Seed heads, sprouting, etc...
I am familiarizing myself with my subject.
I even carved a stamp or two of it.

Here's a look at the beginnings of my research...








One of  the pages is a duplicate image - I went back and began adding more details. I still have to finish these pages but I wanted to share how I typically begin working on/thinking about a piece of artwork that I could make.

Sometimes after I have spent time doing this, I decide that I don't really want to use that particular image in my work right now...I save it for later or move on to the next thing that catches my attention.
I try not to put a lot of pressure on myself to use anything that I started if I don't want to follow through with the idea.
Sometimes what I think I like turns out to be totally different after I have worked with it for a few days.

We all need to learn to listen to our heart a little better, don't we?