A beautiful embroidery

Angelo Filomeno. Death of Blinded Philosopher, 2006. Embroidery on silk shantung, linen, and crystals. 42 x 122 in. (106.7 x 309.9 cm). Collection of the artist; courtesy Galerie Lelong, New York. Photo: Michael Bodycomb

Found via http://www.we-make-money-not-art.com/archives/2008/03/pricked-extreme-embroidery.php from the exhibition "Pricked" featuring contemporary embroidered art at the Museum of Arts & Design in New York

Elsa Mora - my artistic hero

So I finally come to posting about my favorite artist: Elsa Mora. She is quite possibly one of the most successful artists around when it comes to leveraging the internet. She has three blogs and an Etsy store: one that follows her personal life as it relates to her artwork, one for showcasing her personal style, and one devoted to the art of paper-cutting and sculpture. Visit them here:
Elsita
All About Papercutting
The Hidden Seed
Elsita on Etsy

"Elsita" is so intriguing because she is so intensely personal and open with her life and experiences. She has done everything from fashion, jewelry, and papercutting to porcelains, paintings, and photography. I have included two of her flickr sets to whet your appetite but don't miss out on the rest of her extensive and amazingly varied work - many more sets here.





Almost everything she produces tugs at my heart with a kind of dreadful, delightful "urgency". Have you ever felt this? What artists do this for you? . . . create a painful, wistful feeling in your heart that such touching artistry or sentiment cannot be held for more than a moment?

Great advice: useful for professional artists

It's been a while and I apologize - I have a large project going on and have had to shut down all other artwork, including my Etsy store, to stay focused. However, today my husband shared an excellent article with me "Client Red Flags? Ask These 4 Questions." By Steve Tovak.

Some artists seem to have as long a list of "bum" clients as "good" clients. Sometimes the bad list is longer. I know I often feel obligated to take any and all work that comes my way, sometimes despite my gutt reaction to the client, because, well, I need the work!

I'm comitting these four questions to memory for the next new client who contacts me.

Medival Market or Fair. Artist unknown.

Have a great weekend everyone!

The Wishing Well

Here's a little project that is no more. I've been trying my hand at paper-engineering. This is the beginning of a sculptural version of the well that also features prominently in another project. Unfortunately, I was using paper that was too heavy-weight and rubber cement as adhesive. As soon as humidity set in, it started to fall apart - rather elegantly, like a rose, first leaning and drooping (as you see it doing here) then quietly losing it's petals - but falling into oblivion none-the-less. Also, the rubbercement yellowed and collected dust in all the crevices. It was pretty forlorn in the end.

However, I learned a lot and Percy has some new tricks up her sleeve we'll have to try.

Notes to self:

Try a light Canson paper

Good ole Elmer's glue

Work from ground up - not top down. Seems obvious, I know, but remember my background is in costume and clothing is usually draped or "sculpted" top-down.

We'll see what happens next!

An Old Favorite and A New

The old favorite, and an all-time favorite forever, is Elsa Mora or "Elsita" (right); more on her in another post. The new favorite is Carlos Estévez. He and Elsa Mora are opening together in a show called "Laboratorium" in Los Angeles. Both are Cuban artists living in the US. Their artwork touches my soul; it somehow manages to capture much of my emotional memory of Ecuador and Colombia, even though they are from Caribbean Latin America. I long to be able to capture such feelings in my own work.

A post on a new piece I created will be coming up in a few days. Until then, enjoy these other beautiful pieces from Carlos Estévez.

A New Embossing

 
 
 

These photos were taken before I put the finishing detail on; and I forgot to photograph the completely finished piece I was so eager to get it in the mail! Wish I had because the last item I added really brought it all together. Oh well, here it is in almost finished state.

It is about 4"x5" in overall size. The challenges to embossing a human subject, on this small a scale, are numerous and probably obvious. I have learned quite a bit, especially about leaving depressions instead of flipping the work over and depressing from the opposite side.

Most of embossing is done on the reverse side of the paper, pressing hardest for the areas that need the most loft: cheekbones, shoulders, brows, nose. Once I've completed the fuller impressions I flip the work to the right side and use a very fine-tipped point to define edges and details. The hardest embossing decisions revolve around small detailed areas such as eyes, lips and hair. They require a delicate play of impression next to depression. The first impression is usually the finest - repeated impressing in the same place wears out the paper, can look "deflated" or collapsed and won't take fine details - so getting it right the first time around small, detailed areas is imperative.

Anyway, the person for whom I made this piece is a very unique and talented one. May beauty bloom in unexpected places!

Etsy Handmade Moment Contest

So I desperately want to make a little stop-motion animation using one of my poseable figures and enter this contest. Of the myriad reasons I have not done so yet, the most legitimate are: 1. that I have no completed figures in stock and 2. I have non-Etsy commissions to finish.

So I'm simply going to give a shout-out to my favorite entries thus far:







Watch all the entries here.