Friday 17 August 2012

Wild Side

Wild Side 2


My ship is currently running an art contest, so while I had a little bit of spare time I decided to give it a go. There was no theme, no real rules, I just had to use the canvas, paint and brushes provided and then could add and do whatever I wanted.

Wild side 1


I'd had a piece in mind for a while that was based on a photo I took of my ship in Alaska, but doing it just for fun seemed a little silly. Doing it for an art contest on the ship seemed apt though.

Wild Side 4


Originally I did think I was going to use any paint but then I started thinking about a mixed media piece and got excited. I used old schedules as a background and painted over them with white leaving a few words visible. I then painted in a pale outline of my ship from the photo I was using as a reference. Finally I added some Alaskan mountain in the background. Next came the stitching.

Wild Side 5


My ships always have fun, colourful images painted on the side so I incorporated this into my piece. I stitched the artwork down the side of the ship and also used a mixture of paint and stitch to represent colourful pearls on some sparkle net. This pieces is going to be about layers!

Wild Side 7


I emphasised some wording from the background with embroidery in colours to match the ship and then added a slogan in embroidery as well over chiffon.

Wild Side 3


I made a few changes to my original plan for this piece but I think it came out almost exactly as I envisioned it in my head. I'm really happy with it and I'll let you know how it goes in the contest!

Wild Side 6

Friday 10 August 2012

Art: From Enchantment To Down

enchantment09
One More Trophy - Pocahontas


I stumbled across a blog post on BUST magazine's website the other day from a few months ago but wanted to write about it here. Check out the
original post here.

enchantment03
Just a Trap - Alice

enchantment01
My Sweet Prince - Snow White


Thomas Czarnekis is a photography artist and in his latest series he takes Disney princesses and places them in doomed situations. The writer of the original blog post I read about this seemed quite offended by these images but they made me think.

enchantment02
Happy End - The Little Red Riding Hood

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On The Other Shore - The Little Mermaid


I have never see the Disney Princesses as images of frail women who needed men to function. To me they are women going after what they want, some to me seem stronger than others but I have never seen them as contrary to my strong feminine beliefs. Apparently some people do and the art of Czarnekis has strengthened this concept, even making people look at the art as if it condones violence towards women because they are fragile.

enchantment05
Too Fast - Cinderella

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Not So Romantic - Beauty and the Beast


I don't see it this way. To me it seems that it is shattering an image of perfection that women cannot live up to. Perhaps even a perfection that our modern world makes it difficult to manifest. These images may even represent the destruction of the frail feminine in our modern world because our modern ideals break it down. Also, a very good point was made in a comment on the original BUST blog post - these stories were not written by Disney. Fairy Tales were stories of violence, danger and abuse used as warnings. Perhaps these images harp back to those origins as well.

enchantment07
Naughty Girl - Sleeping Beauty

enchantment08
One Last Wish - Jasmine


I like these images - I do not think they promote violence towards women or make women seem frail. Instead they make you think, which is really what art is supposed to be about.

To see them on
Czarneckis' website go here.
To see a further post on the on
DesignBoom go here

Saturday 4 August 2012

Tiger Feet!

Tiger feet 1


It has been far too long since I posted a blog! I have been super busy at work and haven't had time to do any stitching, but the Phat Quarter had a swap so I just had to find time for that.

Tiger feet 5


This time the theme was the 1970s and rather than go to my usual standby of a piece based on David Bowie I thought I would do something different. As a costumer, and a girl, I really love shoes and as a teenager I was really into 1970s platforms - the perfect subject for my piece!

Tiger Feet 2


After chatting with my swap partner, Juline, I based the colours on a story she told me. A combination of blue, orange, silver and purple seemed very 70s to me.

Tiger feet 3


I found the border fabric in a quilt store in Seattle and thought it was perfect for this piece, incorporating the colours and almost a 1970s wallpaper feel.

Tiger feet 4


Not a bad little effort in the time I had!