Like my old friend and colleague, illustrator, Jerry Russell, who chooses to work in different illustration styles dismissing the adage that illustrators should settle into one or two styles, I too have worked in a variety of media and, overtime, have shown different styles. (Though, I admit that, currently, I have settled comfortably into collage as my style du jour.)
“My Sewing Machine” is an example of my foray into computer generated art and design. For a while, I liked using the computer to make art. At the time, I was just beginning my venture into fabric and paper collage, and making pictures using the computer was, to me, a lot like making collages (or maybe that’s just how I approached the media). But, alas, it didn’t last and back to the tactile I went, liking the handling, cutting and gluing of fabric and paper over the point and click of a computer mouse (styluses and tablets were just coming on the market). As one of only a few of my computer illustrated works, “My Sewing Machine” was a representation of another important media I worked in – sewing. I did all sorts of sewing including costume construction (for the Syracuse Stage Costume Department), dressmaking, appliqué and machine embroidery. (For a while, I had a dressmaking business designing and making one-of-a-kind gowns ultimately providing a niche fashion market designing and constructing wedding gowns for the “Pregnant Bride”! [More on that maybe in another post!])
The applique and machine embroidery lend well to illustration, though, they are much more time consuming. Instead of quickly (somewhat) gluing paper or fabric down on a surface, applique and machine embroidery rely on sewing, either thick “lines” of thread to secure pieces of fabric to another base fabric “canvas” for applique, and “lines” of thread to “draw,” “sketch” or “paint” pictures on a fabric “canvas” for machine embroidery. These sewing methods require more time than the typical collage method. (Knowing the work and time required for these illustration techniques provides me with ample respect and appreciation for fabric artists like Bisa Butler and her detailed and colorful applique portraits. Amazing and beautiful!)
Both of my sewing machine-made art pictured here were “squares” for a “Bon Voyage” quilt I coordinated and made for friends who were leaving to sail their sailboat around the world. I coordinated the making of the quilt by asking other friends of the sailors to each pitch in a square. The “Friends” square is a machine embroidery portrait collage of the friends who “spared a square” for the BV quilt. “Boot Shot” is an applique I created representing a favorite shared activity between many of the quilt making friends – our love of hiking in the Adirondack Mountains in Upstate New York. (Later, I made a print of this square and entered it into a t-shirt contest sponsored by The Adirondack Mountain Club. Like my entry in the Dali Museum contest, again, my design wasn’t selected! But as usual, it didn’t stop me from more creating and entering!)
I don’t think I will go back to these media and methods. Though, you never know! What do you think? Should I do more of the computer-generated art, the applique or the machine embroidery? Illustrators, do you have just one or two styles or, like Jerry and me, do you, too, buck the norm? I’d love to hear about it in the Comments section below.