Here's the current stage of my dragonfly: body with sparkly touches, on one small hoop, and the four wings, wired and outlined, on the organza, on another. I put them together so you can see the extent of transparency of the organza, compared to the solidity of the body. The wings you seen drawing on the body hoop are just an indicator of where they'll be. The drawing will be cut away when I remove the body from its backing.But you see how the wings, overlapped, will still be visible, the bottom set through the top set.
I'll probably stitch metallic turquoise and gold threads on the wings. Interestingly, I find that the back of the wings looks better than the front, so that may become the front when I mount them. Organza is interesting to work in since you can see the back as you draw the thread through, and you have to take account of that visibility and avoid drawing threads across where they will be seen.
I might end up stitching back and front, to make the wings two- sided. And once I get the wings completed, I may carry the motif of turquoise over to the body, too.
Next little animal will be either a bee or a turtle. We'll see.
People have been asking to see the critters created to date, and what I'm up to. So here's the current state of play. The parts of the butterflies are still separate, until they are stitched onto the final surface, but I've tried to post them in their little bags so as to show you the general idea. The molded paper pieces will be stitched in somewhere, don't know where quite yet.
I've done most of the dragonfly body, but still need to bead the head and stitch some interesting features into the tail. Meanwhile, thanks to Florence, I have a piece of organza to work the dragonfly wings. And I've drawn them, and I'm stitching on the wiring for the shapes.
The pic shows the body on one hoop, the wings on another, and the working drawing cut out because I had to use it as a template for the felt padding of the body.
I drew in the wings on the body hoop, too, so as to remind myself of the placement. But when I came to draw them individually on the organza on the other hoop, you see that there are four parts to them, all to be wired and able to pose off the surface of the work. I love the stitching of the wiring. I'm using a purple silk thread for this.
Since I have two possible backgrounds, one a white silk with dyed colors, one a black sateen with a copper monotype on it, this might be shaping up to be a diptych, one daytime scene, one night time scene. We'll see.
For years I've thinking idly about making wreaths, what with the dried flowers and various interesting items I have already, to put on one, and now I was given among a lot of other stuff, a door hanger for a wreath.
But the basic framework escaped me, didn't have a circular item to use as the base. Until this morning when I was virtuously recycling, and there at the dumpster were two small sturdy bicycle tires.
So one is now on my patio, mud rinsed off, drying and ready for me to cover and then decorate. And I will even be in time for the fall season. Then I can redo it for various other seasons. Rubber will be easy to attach items to, and to pin on a base fabric covering. At least that's the plan. Since the front door is behind a full storm door, it's protected from the weather and wind, so that's not a problem. I just have to be sure not to make it too dimensional, so as not to hit the storm door.
Upcycled art.
Today was our annual Festival of the Arts, a Plainsboro Public Library event celebrating all the arts and our local artists, too. With events ranging from an abstract art exhibit in the gallery, with art talk, to pastel portraits, to Chinese knotted jewelry, to fine embroidery, to drawing, felting, knitting, sidewalk chalk art, giant Lego play, hula hoop dancing with a dog (!) to weaving on the giant Earthloom, to Chinese calligraphy and watercolor, to mandalas, music all day, ranging from classical strings, to folk to pop, all live, and all kinds of other happenings, well something for everyone!
Happy crowds all day long, and I was at the EGA, Embroiderers' Guild of America display and demo, and we were mobbed all afternoon, it was wonderful! met some lovely new people, hoping we've gained new members, too.
And old friends showed up, great reunions all around. A community Big Win. When you consider how small our town is, just over 20,000 people, to put on such a daylong event, with dozens of willing artists donating time and expertise to happy festival goers, hundreds of people attending over the day, and all with a great air of cheer, well, we're great, that's all there is to it..
I'm showing just a fraction of the work that goes into making this happen. Planning started months ago, but this is the day-of, last minute arrangements happening.
Felting area in preparation
Earthloom set up ready for young weavers
Mandalas set up to give ideas to young mandala makers
Hula hoops waiting for occupants
Art journals at work, to encourage all comers to try their hand at it
Elizabeth here setting up for an afternoon of creating pastel portraits
Paint and little clay lamps ready for Diwali decoration
Greek columns being arranged in place on the light poles.
Then the people start to arrive and it's all go from then on.
Felting getting under way
Chinese calligraphers and watercolor artists
Young builders at work on their Lego area
after they've done with their sidewalk chalk art
You last saw this loom with my Four Sisters tapestry on it in progress before the picture earlier showing it ready for new action. Here young weavers set to work on their hangings.
Just had to include the dog! That's Carol, the Library Director, persuading him to pose for the camera. Other duties as assigned, as they say in the job description!
High school age classical string players
Henna designing at work
Trying her own mandala, with help from artist Julia
One of the calligrapher's works
And indoors, more events, more crowds, more fun
Some of our embroidery on display
Skilled embroiderers Evie and Florence confer, and Florence's cousin, also Florence, gets on with her schwalm (German whitework_
Visitors admiring some of Evie's work
and learning some fine points from Florence
And from Evie
And a sight to gladden the heart, a lady, thank you Simone, signing up for more information about the embroiderers' guild.
An exhibit of abstract art in the gallery, with a talk by the artist
Here seen above by herself, and then in the company of your blogwriter, a friend insisting on taking our pic together. The beautiful one is Tatiana!
And here is Iris Chang, a longtime friend both of the library and its arts programs, and of this writer. We all owe a lot to Iris, hadn't seen her in ages, and there she was in the gallery admiring Tatiana's brilliant work.
Home now, and recovering from all the stimuli of a terrific day.
Over in my other blog, Field and Fen, is today's musing on Six Word Saturday, and it seems so relevant to this art blog that I thought I'd just link it here:
http://fieldfen.blogspot.com/2014/09/grinding-flour-metaphor-for-art-six.html
Here's the latest in the wilderness group: a dragonfly. The body is felt, overlaid with sparkly ribbon like the lizard (and the luna moth) so he will fit in to the scheme. The head and thorax will be stitched and probably beaded. There will be more stitching on the body, too. The wings will be a separate item, wired and as transparent as I can make them, still need to figure out what to use there. So this is where we are.
My original drawing is seen in there. I made it in fine point pen, then went over it with a marker so as to see it through the base fabric to trace it. Then I cut out the shape so as use it as a pattern to make the felt body correctly, and the ribbon overlay. There will be goldwork, and beading, too before we're through.
Lizard is now all beaded up and I think he's done.
Removed from hoop, and set along with the butterfly wings.
Next I have to figure out my turtle. Or maybe a bee. Or a dragonfly. So many insects so little time so much ambition. And I have two shadow boxes ready for pieces.
I may end up putting the wilderness animals on that black satin with the copper monotype on it. Just wondering. Or possibly redoing some earlier goldwork abstract shapes to mount on it like a series of constellations. I can go back in and change them to stumpwork by applying wire around the perimeter of each shape.
Well, there's time to figure all this out while I make the animals to set in place on one piece or the other.
Here's the current situation with the little lizard:
The spine consists of green sequins overlaid with green beads.
There will be more beading, eyes, and some goldwork before he's ready to be detached from the muslin ready to attach to the permanent backing.
I'm done for the moment with butterfly wings, and they are safely stowed till the rest of the piece is ready for them. So now I'm working on a little lizard, or salamander.
I drew and cut it out in yellow felt, stitched the shape down, forgot to take a pic of it, sorry, and now you see my original drawing next to the current state of play: the lizard is being given a coat of the same sparkly ribbon I used on the luna moth's wings.
I'll stitch this down all around then proceed to make it nice looking. The left hind foot will be stitched entirely. This is a different form of stumpwork, where padding is used, and the outer edge will be stitched closely same as the butterfly wings, so as to cut it off its background ready to install on the final work.
This afternoon is all about rain, so this will be a good stitching time.
So yesterday I was out playing music, and poking about in a friend's art studio, she and I being old accomplices in art and music, and today I realized a few more stages of the wilderness piece.
No obvious path between yesterday and today, but the ways of art are mysterious when they're not totally baffling. I think I got in the zone just musing about all the incoming stimuli.
So I thought at first, and this was after seeing that wonderful book recommended by Magpie of Mumblings fame, of Annemieke Mein, whose mixed media wildlife pieces involve drawing and stitching and all kinds of great stuff, where was I, oh yes, I thought hm, why not treat that freeform crochet piece you saw a while back as a kind of soft stencil? draw through it? no, better yet, stencil with liquid copper acrylic through it using a sponge brush.
So I tried that, with the crochet still pinned to the muslin. Then before I removed it, I thought, ah, better yet, a monotype taken off the piece right now, onto this piece of black satin. Which I did.
And the copper on black piece has real possibilities, which the copper on muslin piece probably doesn't. It goes that way. Then I unpinned the crochet stencil and rested it on a new piece of muslin.
And took a look at the stencil attempt on the muslin
probably a nonstarter.
And the paint now drying a bit, I rested the crochet stencil on the silk dyed background and I like the mixture of copper and green a lot more as a natural background for my bees and butterflies and other animals.
It will be stretched out a lot more than this, once dry, and I hope the stretching cracks the paint here and there to add to the interest.
So this is where we currently are! one current piece underway, one nonstarter, and one future piece ready for further attention to be paid. So it turns out not to be true that I finish one piece at a time, after all. There are always other pieces at work somewhere, but I hadn't noticed them so much. And I seem to have backed my way into the studio again.
Here's the blue and turquoise iridescent butterfly progressing. As you see, I'm stitching all four pieces on the same piece of fabric, in the interest of not losing any of them before I'm ready to attach them. The little tear you see in the fabric doesn't matter -- it will be outside the cut area once I remove the parts.
Here in the hoop is the back of the current wing parts, to the right, out of the hoop, the front side of the completed parts.
Here you see the front of the current stitched pieces, with the back of the first two pieces outside the hoop. And it shows the ends of the wires which will be slid through the permanent support and stitched down at the back to secure the butterfly.
And you see a couple of adjustments: making sure I'm doing a left and a right wing, like when you cut out pieces of a dress -- not two left bodice parts! and I reversed the way I stitched it in the hoop, so as to protect the stitching in progress. I'm so much in the habit of stretching canvas then painting on the top of it, that I keep forgetting to reverse the procedure with stitching, so as to protect the work in progress.
This is why each picture shows the back of two parts, the front of the other two parts. It's more organized than it looks.
Wire is stitched in with close stitches, not buttonhole this time, since the knots in buttonhole pushed the threads apart a little, and I didn't get as much coverage of the wire as I'd planned, on the other moth. Then the wing parts are filled in with long and short stitches, alternating floss and metallic thread
It's surprisingly athletic to stitch this closely around this apparently small area. I need to rest my back as well as my eyes after getting round one wing part.
