Wednesday, May 6, 2015

Completely different (the portrait)


I seem to be on a revolutionary streak this spring, wanting to make art that doesn't resemble anything I've done in the past.  I made two small art pieces (here and here) by stitching directly onto cotton duck with no batting or backing, and was excited by the way the machine stitched line is neither straight nor precise (I guess I could get it to be that way if I tried hard enough, but I don't want to).

Having finished those two pieces, I wanted to keep going, and the obvious choice was to use the new technique on a small piece that I had agreed to make for the annual auction of the Louisville Visual Art Association.  We were given 8x8-inch canvases for the project.

I had a small piece of canvas left over from one of my little stitched pieces, just big enough for the 8x8 format.  I made this little guy by stitching onto the canvas in several colors, then stitching it to a piece of beige cotton, which I stretched and stapled to the base canvas.  Then I covered the staples by wrapping some twine around the edges of the canvas.

It doesn't take much dense stitching to make the underlying canvas bulge and buckle, which is particularly noticeable on his bulging eyes and eyebrows.  The 3-D effect is something I need to play with more in the future.



I sketched the face and embroidered the eyes and mouth with free-motion stitching, but everything else was done with a straight stitch.

I love this little guy so much that I'm not sure I can part with him, even though I don't have much time to start over (and would have to acquire a new 8x8 support).  Probably my best approach is to donate this guy to the auction as planned, then make a bunch of siblings in the same technique.

Note: I wrote this post several weeks ago, the day I finished the piece, but have held it for publication now since the auction, held last month, is supposed to be anonymous.  Only after you buy a piece do you get to turn it over and see who the artist was.  Of course many artists are quite recognizable by the cognoscenti, but I'll bet that nobody who knew my work would have identified me as the artist of this piece.  And that makes me happy.  I was also happy to learn that the piece was purchased during the first hour of the auction.

8 comments:

  1. I can understand your reluctance to part with this guy-- I don't want to stop looking at him.

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  2. Simplistic yet beautiful, a difficult combination to achieve. I agree with Jill, he is very hard to stop looking at.

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  3. I guess he doesn't want to stop looking at you, either!

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  4. oh I couldn't part with him. I love love a moon face, round faces... like mine I guess. The texture is soooo good. I want him to live here! Make more... keep working... series please. LeeAnna at not afraid of color

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  5. I love how the density of the stitching creates 3D effects. He is a captivating chap.

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  6. Marvelous expressive quality. And wonderful color choices.

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  7. What a great new direction. I really like the bulgy eyelid. Perhaps when you make his relatives, you could make saggy-ness beneath weary eyes...

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  8. good idea -- I'll call that one "self-portrait"

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