Candy rock, candy floss and a very sticky scanner...!!

Glued I have been to my lovely Mac, engineering prints for my scarves! Yesterday I was really naughty and sandwiched some broken bits of rock (the sweet candy version) in my scanner...I will be in so much trouble! I manipulated the images into kaleidoscopic images, rotating and flipping, enlarging and reducing. 

There is nothing I love more than photocopying and scanning things and then abstracting them.  Have to confess I have even had candy floss trapped in the scanner in last couple of days, although that has yet to appear in a design. Hopefully I have removed all the evidence...! Here is the work so far...not the finished article, but definitely getting there. I am going to print a sample on silk tomorrow all being well and then make final decisions about colour and further development. I have decided to try some different orientations and shapes as well as styles, so that I can show some diversity in my collection, but keeping colour palette as a constant throughout. This is becoming a bit tricky a times and I feel I need to reign this in now as I am reaching the final phase! I also produced a very different style of scarf, which has been a hit amongst my friends. It's very different to the candy rock scarf, but I am like both the symmetry of the bird design and the abstract print in the candy print...hmmm decisions, decisions!!?

Yulia Brodskaya

Wow wow and wow...check out Yulia Brodskaya's work using quilling technique. It brings a whole new dimension to paper arts. Just awesome! Have already bought myself a quilling tool to have a bash, although I am sure my attempts will be pitiful against these wonderful pieces.

http://trendland.com/

Contrast...

For a long time I have been a huge fan of Claudia Carviezel's work...I love her ability to show such diversity and her amazing use of colour! Basically she shows no fear in her work...and if bold is required, bold is what is delivered. I revisited her body of work again today as I was having an inner battle with colour palette. I have found lately that having learned to be restrained in use of colour I am now a bit fearful about being indulgent with it. This has been true with my new scarf designs where I have gone backwards and forwards to try and find a happy blend of vintage delicacy and contemporary boldness. The truth is I haven't been sure if I am finding a happy medium? However, looking at Claudia Carviezel's work again has been me think that ultimately the design needs to be fit for purpose. In this instance I want my scarves to be interesting and stimulating when they are worn not just to look at as a whole design. For me this means good use of contrast in the design when draped around the neckline. Going to keep experimenting to find that elusive all important balance!

http://www.caviezel.cc/

View through the telescope...

In a previous post I shared about my litte enchanted evening at sunset on Blackpool North pier. At the end of the pier was this telescope and it immediately gave me some inspiration for a design. I started to think about how the image seen through the viewfinder captures a small aspect of a whole picture or scene and how when this is narrowed down that the image becomes magnified and the sole focus of attention. I went on to muse over how this could also relate to different aspects of time and different eras and considered how all these things could be explored in varied scale and blended together within a design. 

 I started to collect together drawings and old and new photos and capturing little circular snippets which best represented the overall image. It was really great fun and I could have gone on and on with this concept. Here is the first draft on the design, which incorporates the backs of old photos, line drawing and ink patterns along with a little bit of text (which I will probably omit in further development) as I think it makes the design look too contrived?

New scarf design...

This is a potential new design for my final collection of scarves. I started by illustrating layers of rock and paint and by hiding little images and references to my theme inside the layers of rock.... Once I had completed my drawing work I scanned the backs of old photos from my family albums to add a background with a vintage feel. I then blended this with an image of scanned fabric which I had used a shibori technique on to produce a light grungy look which is on trend currently. Final I created a bush preset and added birds from a photograph I took in Blackpool. I love the finished design and am now ready to sample on different fabrics using digital print. I already feel that silk is going to be the fabric of choice for the final piece. Once printed I will then start to experiment with some light embellishment. I do think that this design will sit well in my chosen target
market.

My street art...

I have been busy applying my own street art to some of the landmarks in my local town...but don't worry I haven't committed any illegal acts and I am certainly not heading for an ASBO any time soon. I have been experimenting with blending images using CAD. In this shot I was inspired by the designer Philip Roucou who has launched a collection of beautiful scarfs with retro photo shots. In this case I have used one of my recent photos of the Dome in Whitley Bay and blended it with one of the ink drawings I have done today. I have then added a filter to create a vintage look. This is one of my attempts at colouring photos but using a more contemporary technique. I think this would be lovely printed digitally onto silk as the contrast between the photo and the colour in the drawing is quite striking. I intend to explore more work using unusual ways of colouring photos. I have recently been really inspired by the work of Jose Romussi's Photo embroidery...similar to that of Maurizio Anzeri, Romussi adds threads to old vintage photos but unlike Anzeri he adorns the garments worn by the subject rather then their faces. I find Romussi's work more appealing and a more adaptable approach for commercial products, but do find Anzeri's work more thought provoking and edgy.

Jose Romussi

http://trendland.com/

Maurizio Anzeri

http://www.yatzer.com/

Lakeca Mixed Media Illustrations...

Perusing the internet today I stumbled across these amazing illustration using mixed media techniques by Lakeca. I absolutely love them and feel like I had another eureka moment as I feel it is what I have been trying to achieve with my own work incorporating pattern and hand drawing along with photographic elements. I think further experimentation with this is definitely help me to get to my final outcome. rolling my sleeves up as we speak for an afternoon of collage and drawing!

http://trendland.com/