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Wednesday 30 November 2016

STILL LIFE - Sheeler

After much oohing & aahing & deliberating the light bulb came on.  It took a couple of reads of the 'key ideas' behind his work and eventually I decided I would work along the lines that he often took .... photograph it, craft a drawing based on the original photograph & then use the drawing as a model for the painting. However I went back to the photograph for my painting. I liked the idea of his still life's so this was the journey I took.

This was my inspiration.

This was my photograph, however it was in colour as that was my first intention.


This was my drawing. Hilary will recognise this as this was one of my sketches I shared with her (sneaky!). My sketch pad is small so I could not fit the flower in as I wanted the vases to be big enough to play around with. 


This is my piece. I reverted to black & white as I wanted to capture the challenge of a B & W photograph.  The vases & flower are painted, cut out and fused onto the background which is stamped & painted as a whole cloth.  Then I hit a brick wall. How on earth was I going to quilt it ??? I tried using a blind hem stitch with invisible thread on the middle vase which was disastrous as it stuck out like a sore thumb. If you zoom in you probably can see the stitch marks which have proved very difficult to remove thru the paint. The result is the vases & flower are only fused.  I have quilted the 'wall' to simulate an embossed wallpaper and the table simple lines. 

At the end of it all I have loved doing this challenge & I love my piece.

11 comments:

  1. Thank you for sharing your process...it is such an interesting journey! Your drawings are amazing! I especially commend you for integrating various methods to accomplish your finished piece. Love it!!

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  2. I really like the quilted background and it contrasts nicely with the simplicity of the foreground. It is beautiful.

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  3. WOW Phil your painting of the vases are so realistic and I commend you on this. It looks fantastic and your wallpaper sets it off beautifully. What paint did you use on the vases and the flower? You have done an amazing piece. I love it so well done.

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    1. I used acrylic (Dala) hence the difficulty in stitching it without leaving big holes. I added a dab of oyster pearl paint (DecoArt) to give the glaze effect and texturizing medium (DecoArt) to the clay part of the pots.

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  4. So well done! I especially like the wallpaper effect and it is such a clever interpretation of his piece. His work is so varied that there really seems to be something for everyone.

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  5. I love it too. The vases are lovely, your flower looks very 3-dimensional and the background wallpaper is brilliant!

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  6. The reflection on the vases is amazing. Everything looks so realistic. Nicely done!

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  7. Brilliant painting and brilliant quilting! I really love this, and think you've done a wonderful interpretation. Wish I could see it in person.

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  8. So glad someone chose to interpret Sheeler's still life works . The contrast of the quilted background and the clean lines of the vases is excellent as is the paintwork on the vases .Clever interpretation .

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  9. I don't think there's anything more to be said, thanks for sharing the process as well as this wonderful finished piece.

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  10. Wow! I can't believe those vases are painted!!!! Beautiful. I take my hat off to you. The wallpaper is inspired. All in all a triumph. You should be very thrilled with the result.
    Hilary

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