This past week has been very productive! There are two major reasons. First, I'm getting ready for the Philadelphia Museum of Art Craft Show in November. Second, my "day job" hasn't needed much work from me. My husband Steve and I own a business called Mouse House. We do limited custom picture framing. The past two weeks were SLOW ... very, very slow ... which meant I had plenty of time in my studio. Of course, there is a draw back to this scenario. We aren't making much money. It is scary but it also an opportunity.
Many of the artists exhibiting in high-end fine craft shows live in hopes that sales will be good. Many don't have a "day job". It is a risky life style. Time is spent differently. These artists often have more time to explore new ideas and designs. So, that's what I've been doing too! I've really enjoyed consulting my 1868 copy of Owen Jones' Grammar of Ornament. For this piece, I spent quite a bit of time really LOOKING at the details and motifs on this page featuring an Indian pattern.
Obviously, I did not sketch out the exact design. The vase shape is much the same but the rest simply borrows ideas, shapes, and the way curves and angles work together. I'm very pleased how the finished piece turned out.
In my last blog post, I mentioned photographing my work after it is mounted. This is how it looks. The fiber art has been stitched to a piece of over-sized mat board measuring 58" x 18". That mat board it secured in a black linen liner ... as shown above. I then position the work on the front porch ... as erect as possible ... sort of clamped to a nearby window jamb. (Not shown above!) My camera is on a tripod. I work really hard to get the camera's view finder to be centered and square on the artwork. I take various exposures, hoping one looks best.
(Above: Large Stained Glass LXXXI, detail of top.)
After taking the "full view", I take several detail shots ... like this one of the top ...
... and this one of the middle section ...
... or this one of most of the vase.
Unfortunately, I have no good way to get a better image of the bottom. It is impossible to keep the camera on the tripod when the bottom supported by the porch! For smaller pieces, I can position the work on the actual window sill. Yet ... these less-than-perfect pictures do give an accurate view of how large these pieces really are and also the texture, dimension, and physicality of the work.
By the way, the outer dimensions of the black linen liner are 60" x 20". This was intentionally done so that an over-sized piece of glass (60" x 40") could be cut into two ... one side for each of two artworks. The glass is put into an outer frame ... and the linen liner goes in next. The liner and the frame create a narrow space so that the artwork never comes in contact with the glass.
I am linking this blog post to Nina-Marie's "Off the Wall Fridays", a site for sharing fiber arts.
Gorgeous!
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