The process feels rather like flying in the dark or painting with your eyes shut. You imagine what you want, then roar along on the machine, then stop and hang the piece across the room. Only when you stop do you see what you've done.Both these pieces started with (unsuccessful) thermofax prints from a sketch. The one below I painted into until the piece was a mess, then, when I turned it over I found this great, but pale, watercolor.
I find I like to use the stitched line to position the figure in space. Don't have the nerve to touch the face --- can I get away with that?
4 comments:
Have you seen Danny Mansmith's work? He is drawing with the sewing machine.
I love your machine drawings..they are wonderful..very inspiring. I just found out I have an orange brain..yikes!!! And I love purple so much! Whatever..Louise
I love this - and no, I don't think you need a face. Have you seen Olga's blog, Threading Thoughts - http://threadingthoughts.blogspot.com/ ? She doesn't add faces either...
On a purely practical note, since dense stitching flattens an area, the face would recede to a plane "behind" the rest of the figure, so I think this is definitely the right choice. As with many of your sketches the lines suggest shape and emotion and my mind happily fills in the details.
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