I had a bit of time this week to make some fun art. Fun because I haven't made something this small in a while and because it was in a completely different vein than any of my current work. But it had a
good cause behind it too! I found out about it through
Kristin and could not keep away. My daughters helped me choose my subject and here's how I went about it...
First a bit of research on the Northern Fur Seal in
words and in
pictures. And then I thought I'd make my art out the very plastic bags that are harming the species. I downloaded a few pix and played with them in Photoshop until I found a pleasing shape. I printed it out and used the old fashioned pencil and tracing paper make a few shapes.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQVgeToe0r3ZiVAawA6MwKbMq092FfHl1CA3voBMzC356ZCEE9guOV8ap7yMMh3pTKVt1O3236QGCiTNo-XeHXfdAEWBAeFAZIwEb-f6MAw1WreP5M9Fg4cS6myWu82ZJ7Y1SA34Vd6SJa/s1600/NFS1.jpg) |
a bit of tracing |
Then I gathered plastic bags in various browns and blacks and grays as those are the colors of the seal fur and cut out a ton of little seals.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZ8chnjESwdb8yLEiEdslbbXejf8d5GzFyi-K2GWfQdjB4Ae3fKi88JA1ciVgMAIZTFAcgR1OBm2A36JlhO7YrcQrpDvNq_UB4wdXNZutD4T9sslvncjt-9bJWNacTjLpBUcGEwPPbWjEU/s1600/NFS2.jpg) |
plastic seal shapes laying about |
I decided to use Styrofoam-like packing material as my batting. And started gluing down the plastic pieces in somewhat random fashion.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSZ6yXdOdWR_2Ug3Vw9buMPw4_jZ1BGHt59D4Cq7Kyz-a5AHjQEoX8fZ8Lz_xmPBWzG3hH8cImaHSH_e27hGClhtvR9QlNBu-A383PhuL7WJijdmXGGSIaf1RO1hW8aTu-ogzsa4Uo-1gp/s1600/NFS3.jpg) |
grays and blacks were the first layer |
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZFaJ3HEVNYDDG_lV82yqikPabx-8evHfY_nSFHtl2A0Sd7jTJ5_hXirch4Dpuao3kbVwJJ9FF4ecv3TJcjopAOb7PQ_EGbu0dOvqf1DIWB7vYX7iDz9kX3KS-s9H1O-TVBAGl6MwOvgaW/s1600/NFS4.jpg) |
browns on top |
Then I quilted the heck out of it outlining a few shapes to identify the seals. A bit of brown acrylic paint for texture and here it is, hard to photograph without reflections.. Itty bitty measuring at 7"x7" only. Twas fun!
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUhP2cb-oNps1lECog1YS0fc-Zt8YKpBVZhn79I5_LvAT1jf1zgrTFFCWulw-QLJ-hxG8g2RdOWcI2IEC7QIij9b47XQsdDWVezHv6fguoA-jmJpzieg87VB9g-L138s4qx6eYKeSdyIJH/s1600/NorthernFurSeal.jpg) |
Northern Fur Seal ©Natalya Aikens 2014 |
4 comments:
very cool!
A great piece about the seals and very meaningful to use plastic bags!
Hmmmmm..... glue + plastic+ machine needle. What's your recipe for "disaster avoidance"?
Looks very cool and has that "water shimmering on a seal's fur" look.
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