Trying a new technique.

 I am trying a new technique for building my mixed media collages.  I tend to get glue happy and regret some layers I have laid down so this time I am doing of the pieces separately before I combine them in the final work.  My poor son gets the shirt shrift as I tend to make "girly" pieces so I asked him to model for a large work that I will display in my solo show at 1st Stage in Tyson's this November.  Above is the photograph I took.  Below is the pencil sketch. I decided I like it "flipped" better.

 I asked my boy what color he thought the background should be for my next painting and he said "moody purple"  He picked dark green for my last one (see previous post) and so I followed him again for this one.

Then I decided on the large scale object materials.  In this case fabrics, sheet music and leather.

 then I hand embroidered the face & finger delineations.  The most amusing part so far?  The t shirt on the figure is from a REAL rhino shirt that my son inherited from my good friend and fellow artist Beth Loftis' son YEARS ago and has grown out of!

I am psyched to continue working on this but ran away to "pick" for the shop inventory for Stifel & Capra on the Eastern shore!  Got LOTS of good loot today!  Can't wait for you to see it.

art and craft

 I was having a chat with a couple of clients the other day about the difference between "art" and "craft" and how testy people get when they get referred to by the name they DON'T approve of.  I consider myself both.  What is the difference between an artistand a crafter, an artisan and a designer?

 My theory is an artist creates their own one of a kind work entirely from scratch and a crafter tends to follow a pattern, even if the pattern is of their own making.  But that doesn't explain the folks that take craft to a high art.  Think quilting or basketry.  But does that theory  negate the artists that seem to do the same thing over and over because they love making it or because it sells?

That theory also doesn't explain the transcendence of practical products, like weaving, or knitting. Or the art of display or juxtaposition.  OK, so maybe I don't have a theory...

PS - When I did spell check on this post, Blogger didn't recognize "crafter" as a word.  Now, THAT gets my dander up!!!

PPS - the top photo is from the "pile o' supplies" in my prior post.