theartisansattic.com

Hello everyone,

There was a time in my life, several years ago, when I experienced a series of losses. I think everyone has that one pet that stands out, that’s the love of your life pet. She was the first loss. A beautiful wedge head siamese cat my daughter had given to me for Mother’s Day. She died. A few weeks later my daughter and granddaughter moved hundreds of miles away. I thought I would get to be there for all those precious childhood moments with my granddaughter. A few months after that my husband died. I was completely alone.

Around this time I would look at the pictures on the walls. I couldn’t stand the sight of the frame. It was too confining. It felt like the eggshell around the grown chick. Ideas for paintings were pouring into my head, but different than normal paintings. Paintings with raged edges, silk ribbon embellishments and sometimes a three dimensional aspect to them. The words “ripped out of the box” kept repeating in my mind.

I think the pain and suffering we experience in life can act as a catalyst for something new, like the pain of childbirth.

This is a painting I did of my daughter. I wasn’t very happy with it so I thought it would be a good piece to experiment with.

I took in off of the stretcher bars and laid it on the floor, painted over parts of it and started playing with pieces of lace and feathers.

I sewed the lace and feathers on and trimmed the edges of the canvas.

This looked good.

The finishing touches were roughing up and darkening the edges of the canvas, sewing the lace on around the edge with each stitch holding a bead for decoration.

The last step was to finish the back with felt. I also added a piece of cardboard to hold it flat and a wire to hang it with.

Voila! The finished piece. What do you think?