I am getting things ready for the Japanese Garden show that happens in July. It has been a great venue for selling work, so I like to have a good variety of work ready, in a variety of sizes. This is when I start to think of my work in commercial terms, though I would never want to get to a point of just churning out what sells just because it does. Still, as I prepare for this show I am inevitably influenced by what has sold in the past.
I have tried to have at least one good sized piece with a flower theme. These have included a hydrangea, a foxglove, and an iris. Each of these has sold. This year I am doing a Japanese Iris, using my usual fusing technique. I start with a full-sized drawing and my assortment of fabrics. I started with the blossoms, which I fused. Before going any further I added detail and color to the blossoms to assure myself that they were actually going to look like flowers before proceeding. Then I started tracing and cutting and fusing the leaves, using several shades of solid green fabrics. The fabric I am fusing to looks black in these photos, but is, in fact, a mottled dark brown. Sometimes the pieces don't fit exactly as they did in the drawing, so I trim and adjust. With this piece I decided the leaves looked a little sparse once I had fused them all in place so I added a few more. The drawing is a guide, but not one I adhere slavishly to.
After I finished the bunch of irises, I tried them out on some different backgrounds.
Hmmmph. Blogger seems not to want to allow me to post the pictures of the different backgrounds. I will come back and try later.
Oh you tease! I can't wait to see more pictures. I thought of your wonderful Japanese lantern when we were at the Fort Worth Japanese Gardens last week.
ReplyDeleteLoverly!! Can't wait to see it up close and personal!
ReplyDeleteAll of these are stunning! Simply beautiful work. I wish I lived close enough to see your artistry in person.
ReplyDeleteThe hydrangea is my favorite.