drawing and painting

December 21, 2012
by annwood

I used to draw and paint a lot.

merriwether lewismerriwether lewis 2005  (after the Charles Willson Peale portrait)

waterparkwest side water park 2005

junebug film art

illustration for film poster 2005

And  my begining here, this blog, was making marks on paper – the cardboard horse project.

horse8

And then all of a sudden I was sewing. A lot. And as I sewed more and more  the drawing and painting went away.  I miss that kind of work and that kind of expression but even though I feel inspired in that direction  I keep not doing it.  It is very easy not to.  So I’m making it mandatory and  planning a project in the 2 dimensional world  for 2013. I have figured out what it’s going to be, the focus, and I’m excited about it  but I’m still working out the particulars of how I’m going to share it – when I get that figure out I’ll tell you all about it.

shop update

December 17, 2012
by annwood

I’m having a little shop update Monday (12/17 – 2pm ny time), you’ve already seen some of the new things- toadstools and little owls – and there are a couple new ships as well. One is paper mache:

paper mache ship

And the other is made from  an antique quilt fragment – pretty grays and lilac.

quilt ship

Both have little owl captains.

There is also a new dark toadstool with a little teal owl perched underneath- both made from turn of the century garments.

owl and toadstool

The new things will be available in the shop on Monday- 12/17  at 2 pm (new york time).

fortuny collection

December 7, 2012
by annwood

I’ve made lots more Fortuny things including these toadstools.

fortuny toadstools

And  a couple others:

fortunysailor_3_2

A  gentleman sailor owl braving a perilous sea all alone

fortuny owl

A dastardly owl

rose fortuny songbird

A rose colored and gold songbird

fortuny red bird

And a red and blue songbird

(these and others are  available  at the Fortuny showroom  in Manhattan)

sponginess and some irregularity

December 6, 2012
by annwood

These are the two of the  qualities I wanted my mushrooms to have – a sense of sponginess and sometimes a little oddness in the shapes.

toadstools

I also  very much wanted a concave underside for the cap – that has been the biggest struggle in creating the patterns and process . I didn’t want to make something realistic or botanical, not this time anyway,  but I did want a great deal of mushroom-ness. Mushroom strangeness. Also contributing to  mushroom-ness, I hope,  are  the curvy stems and tilted caps – impossible balance but for  stem bottoms weighted with glass bead fill thanks to a tip from abby glassenberg.

glass fill

It’s marvelous stuff. It is also magical stuff- pretty and sparkly and there is some delight and ceremony  in taking out the wooden  box I keep it in and spooning a bit into the stem.

There are new Fortuny toad stools too- I’ll show you those and more new things from that collection tomorrow.

suddenly, a mushroom appeared

October 8, 2012
by annwood

calico mushroom

Not exactly suddenly  – my ideal mushroom shape has been eluding me for years. And this shape is still a work in progress –  as the scale changes the pattern  and technique have to be adjusted – but I’m very happy with the last few trys.  I wish I had time to make more right now but there are lots of other projects  that are more urgent this week.

black mushroom

Above – another,  larger  and made from vintage and antique garments in shades of black.  And below a new  little arrangement of things on my wall that’s making me happy right now – including a new sort of mini owl- more on those soon.

things on the wall

Happy Columbus Day where applicable and one more photo – some new, dark gimlet eyed owls in progress:

gimleteyes

Pin It

Pin It

mr. knickers

September 30, 2012
by annwood

mr. knickers

Mr. Knickers is made from this pair of wonderful dark  and  tweedy woolen knickers:

knickers

The wool has tiny flecks of purple and green and I used my antique swim bloomers as well as bits of lace and antique glass buttons for  eyes.  The  Mr. N  pictured above is the first of a very  small numbered  edition – 1 and 2  are available now and more soon – as many as the knickers allow – I’m hoping for at least  two more.

mr. knickers storms off

new ships

September 3, 2012
by annwood

A couple previews of tomorrows shop update – I’ll post more here if time permits tomorrow morning ( there are 3 new owls too).

quilt ship

The hull is made from an antuique quilt top, the sail is antique ticking and the owl captain is made from a vintage feed sack.

sri ship
And another made from mostly Japanese textiles (courtesy of Sri Threads) – in moody lavender grey tones.

thanks

August 31, 2012
by annwood

seashell folkseashell folk, off to celebrate

Thanks to everybody who showed up for the shop update yesterday – I’ll be packing everything up this weekend and getting things on their way right after the holiday. I’m working on things for Tuesday’s owl and ship update ( there will be one more songbird too) – here are some things in progress:

pale pink songbird

This is the bodice it’s made from- I bought it years ago and have been using bits of it ever since.

antique pink bodice

A  grey owl – fabrics courtesy of Sri Threads.

sri grey owl

And a pair of turn of the century wool swim bloomers I’m about to turn into an owl.

antique swim bloomers

I got them for next to nothing – the seat is terribly moth eaten. The fabric is wonderful- weight, shade, fading , texture – everything ideal.  Also, in the unlikely category,  technically, I’ve just posted a picture of myself on the internet in a bathing suit.