Going dotty part 1

I love dots

'i like dots' by Keri Smith (www.kerismith.com/blog) find on the below flickr website

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kerismith/5429078342/

I love the image and I love the comments that come with it. A few examples:

 'soothes the eyes - simplicity can be beautiful ;p'


'I don't like dots who are all the same.. but I like these dots....'


'I love dots. They can be all sorts of things with all kinds of meanings. the end of a sentence, a pupil in your eye, a vegetable seen from far away, part of an internet address, a floater in your eye..'

'Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty'

Adding to the previous post with regard to Alexander McQueen I would like to include these images (also on display in the Met). I had a slight epiphany while looking at them! Isabella Blow once called Lee McQueen a "wild bird". I think the recurring concept in his work is the beauty of a birds wings, the face does not come in to the picture just as a beautiful bird you will always notice it's wings before anything else and it's feathers are it's transformation. This is how McQueen wanted to purvey women. The strength/vulnerability of a bird. It is not about the person, it's about which feathers they choose to wear and unlike the bird we have a choice...

So sack me

Apologies for some of the blurry images. I didn't take them (unfortunately). They are a selection of images from the upcoming Alexander McQueen exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum, NYC. It runs from 4th May - 31st July. I adore the garments and particularly the sack cloth masks. I have a lot of sack cloth material which I also adore but am a bit unsure what to do with it. I have dyed some of it so it is less sack like but I actually like both colours. It could be fantastic to combine it with the dyed silk which is of a similar colour. I wonder if I should attempt to make shapes....

I think certain materials appeal to me because of their paper-like qualities. The silk I am using can be ripped up so easily and bends and folds beautifully. This sack cloth can be completely changed by pulling out threads. It is so much fun!

p.s. does anyone know what collection these McQueen images are from?

It's not black

The anticipation was very exciting yesterday as I waited for the Antique Grey Dylon to work it's magic on my pristine white fabric. The fabrics are linen, silk and a synthetic (extremely silk like but it's not) and although the machine Dylon apparently doesn't dye silk it came out beautifully. Due to the transparency of the silk and silk-wannabe they do look black but the shades are slightly off and are much warmer than black. I'm delighted!

Dot dot dot

Life-drawing

These are a selection of life-drawing/sculpture drawings I have done over the past year. Drawing is a medium I will always return to and for me the body is the hardest but most satisfying subject to draft. You can't alter or distort it as it is the truest and most brutally honest of forms. I'm not sure if you can ever master the skill of life-drawing as each figure you draw brings with it new challenges. The question of light, weight and shadow all need to be considered. I think I do get the most satisfaction out of standing for a few hours trying to master a pose. I love/hate it as it is the most exhausting thing and I cannot draw sitting down. Usually my drawings are missing a limb or a head as I get a bit over-excited with the proportions to begin with. My art teacher in school told us never to use a rubber, to simply draw over it and I have always stuck to that. I would use a rubber to highlight light but that is it. Although I do tend to use charcoal for the most part so it is easily erased by hand.

I'm not sure if I will ever learn to connect my textile work with my drawings. I do hope I can but for the moment they are my starting points and important reference material.

ps. the idea to draw from sculpture came from the American Pop Artist Jim Dine who spent a lot of time doing this. A cheaper method of life-drawing and you never have the problem with fidgeting models!