Every Friday night while attending Bill Mishoe's estate auction, I play with my iPhone and upload images from my blog to Instagram and Pinterest. I do this because so many people have told me, "Hey, Susan! You're a visual artist. These are the on-line places that are specifically VISUAL ... just pictures, very few words. You need to do this!" Lots of these same people assume that I spend plenty of time on social media. The truth of the matter is, I upload and hope for the best. I'm not one of those people who get sucked into streaming videos or browsing through thousands of images or listening to podcasts. Sure, I still blog but that's my part of my personal documentation, and I like to write! But basically, there's not enough time in a day to work a job, make art, and spend time on social media. So I never really believed that Instagram was "necessary" ... but I could be really wrong about that! Why?
Well, recently I uploaded four Medium In Box Series pieces to Instagram and was contacted by a former client. The conversation resulted in a commission! Over the weekend I created a set of Seasonal Leaves. I documented every step in progress and created a PDF to accompany the work. These are some of the images, including ....
... the foundation layer of polyester stretch velvet in seasonal color waves ...
... and the additional squares and rectangles fused to each unit. Some are six layers deep.
Then came strips of chiffon scarves ...
... and self-guided, free-motion embroidery. My husband Steve even shot a short video of this stage. It is HERE.
Each shape has a leave motif. My leaf outlines come from this little paperback book, Tree Finder: A Pocket Manual for Identification of Trees by Their Leaves, by May Petrea Theilgaard Watts (May 1, 1893 – August 20, 1975). She was an American naturalist, writer, poet, illustrator, and educator. The book was originally published in 1939 and reprinted in 1991. I bought it years ago at Congaree National Park (back when it was still a National Monument).
After stitching, each piece was stapled to a stretcher bar and zapped by an industrial heat gun. The photo above shows the work before ...
... the fringe was neatened with a pair of dull scissors ...
... and then stitched to acid-free mat board for framing. In the future, I think I will pay a little more attention to Instagram and Pinterest. The set is now on its way to a permanent home! How wonderful!
4 comments:
You skipped a step didn't you? You don't show how you separate the individual leaf rectangles.
Susan Sawatzky, I didn't skip a step. I mentioned that the pieces were stapled to stretcher bars and zapped with an industrial heat gun. Because I've made so many of these pieces, I don't tend to upload a video of this process every time I do a commission. I did a video about a year ago when making a "Lunette" ... same materials ... just cut into different shapes. That video is at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7olvabmW6Lw
Thank you, of course I missed that reading too fast.
Do you remember several years ago when we were items with Arlee Barr from Canada? I'm so impressed with how well you have done since that time. Your pieces are lovely.
Susan Sawatzky
formerly from Spokane, now in Port Townsend, WA
Spectacular! Really enjoyed the walk-through of the process and the video. Congratulations on the sales... I know that isn't why you create but it is nice to be paid for your work, know someone else is enjoying it, and to make room for more!
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