Monday, January 31, 2011

What Color is Your Pair o’ Shoes?

Sorry, I couldn’t resist the pun.  Last summer I did a small painting for my friend Tricia’s show.  The theme was “shoes”.  I have been drawing and painting shoes from way back, and so I delighted in this opportunity to try something new.  I have a pair of toddler jellies that I found at a yard sale several years ago and this was a good time to play with that image.

ten women shoe two

Too Coy  2010 10” x 10” Acrylic and silkscreen on canvas

I had fun drawing the image and filling it in with color, but nothing beats my fabric, and I wondered what it would be like to blow the shoe image up and re-create it in fabric.

boogie shoes one

Boogie Shoes 2011 36 1/2” H x 31” W

This piece was done on whole cloth that I painted using SetaColour paints.  It was painted on a hot August afternoon, and I sprinkled salt on the wet paint and let it dry in the summer sun.  The batik was something I picked up just because I liked the color.  I love when things work together to help create a piece of art.  It’s almost like it creates itself.

boogie shoes detail three

Here’s a detail of the stitching.  The grid quilting was done with a combination of YLI Candlelight thread (used in the bobbin) and Kreinik machine quilting thread.  This was my first experience with the Kreinik machine thread and I was really pleased with how well it worked.

You might have guessed from my last post that when I find an image I like, I like to create it multiple times.  There will be more shoes in my future, including this one, in process:

twelve step detail one

Twelve Step, in process  hand-dyed and hand painted fabric, silk screen, applique

Are there any images you like to revisit over and over again? 

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