May 13, 2013

a challenge

I have decided to challenge myself in a new way. 

First the back story: in my previous lives as a fashion designer and then a costume designer and an assistant costume designer, I usually worked on bringing someone else's vision to life, be it a customer, a director or a costume designer. If it was a character in film, I tried to get into that characters head to figure out how they would dress, of course taking notes from the director and the actor into consideration. When I started creating my own artwork, I focused on what I wanted to say, on my emotion and vision. The thought of doing a commission and bringing someone else's vision to how my art should look was scary. 

There are a lot of artists out there who do commission work. They thrive on this work and it does not impede their own vision. So perhaps the reason I am thinking about dipping my toe into commission work is because I now feel secure enough in my own art.

I thought of what I think is a good way of giving this a try. I have some friends with wonderful homes and they have agreed to let me attempt to make a portrait of their homes. Of course I needed to add a twist - the portrait will utilize ephemera from my friends homes, bits and pieces of things destined for the trash or the recycle bin.

So here's my first challenge.
wool mittens past their prime, tissue papers, ribbon, dryer sheets, clear plastic bag and twigs
picture of the home
Now I must figure out how to translate all this into a portrait of home. The final artwork will be 12"x12" and will involve lots of collage, machine stitching and hand stitching. That much I know.
mittens deconstructed
 I decided to start by deconstructing the mittens... I think I will felt them and see where that takes me... Stay tuned!

8 comments:

Deborah Boschert said...

Oh I am loving this idea! I am very eager to see how it progresses! I hope you'll share more with us. Good luck.

Diane Doran said...

This sounds so interesting. I can't wait to see what you come up with!

Bee said...

I love your idea! I too, am eager to see how you use all this to do a portrait of your friend's home.

Anonymous said...

Great idea! People love portraits of their homes and personalizing the images with their own artifacts makes them that much more meaningful.

Kristin L said...

I think this is a fabulous challenge too -- made all the better by the framework you've created for it. I look forward to seeing how the home portrait(s) progress!

Sharon W. said...

What a wonderful and brave idea! I say "brave" because starting out on a new path can be frightening, eh? I think you will do splendid work.....keep us posted.

Unknown said...

What an exciting challenge - look forward to seeing the progress

sukipoet said...

wonderful idea. i know it will be lovely. i have seen others you have made of city buildings and other buildings in Russia I think. good luck.