Yesterday, by about 4pm, I was floundering. I didn’t seem to be getting anything done! And the little bit I had tried to sew…
… had ended up in the trash (after cutting out the good linen from the back).
I was TRYING to make a simple stuffed giraffe kind of like this one…
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sashadewittstudios/8528485354/in/pool-2119101@N24
… by printing this image on fabric:
Since I don’t have my sewing machine here, I tried to hand-sew it, and it was terrible. Blech.
So I printed out another copy, and decided to paint the fabric to give the giraffe more of an outline so that when I sewed it, it made sense. I wanted the paint to be transparent, but I was too lazy or whatever to figure out the right way to do it. So I used the watercolors on my table:
The back side looked cool, too:
Just for fun I ran the whole piece of fabric underwater and the paint DID NOT wash out! Just a little color ran, but for the most part, the watercolor seemed to be semi-permanent on the Jacquard Inkjet Fabric Sheets.
Note to self: Play more with this.
But then, when I was scanning the image in, the scanner did a weird thing for a moment and the giraffe suddenly looked like this:
So I saved that copy and went on to play with other versions digitally in Photoshop:
I then printed out the last version on watercolor paper, and tried to “improve” it with more paint. Unfortunately, things got ugly, and I ended up using sandpaper and gesso to try and save it:
Not so much. Oh well!
Then I went home, after what turned out to be a really fun day!
I think it is quite nicely saved.
It’s a Sweet Giraffe Suite.
What you consider a “not so much” save, I think is beautiful. Love that you showed the steps.
Thank you! (But it looks better online than in person.) But thanks!
Saw this today on Facebook and thought of you…apparently that’s how giraffe sleep, ouch! https://www.facebook.com/didyouknowpage1
Love how your giraffe turned out.
Thank you for sharing your creative process with us.
Just goes to show us that even creative “failures” in our own minds have merit. For ourselves and others. Note to self: keep painting even if I think it’s “ugly.”
I’m having the same sort of fun as we ‘speak’…Lori W at Art Camp for Women
I like your final giraffe. Maybe sit with it a few days and see if you like it more. It does look great online!
Wow! These are awesome!
A great save – love the watercolour – I was told once by a “real” artist that “one” shouldn’t use gesso pre watercolour but I always do on my canvas & love the way it looks -still do even though I may never be a “real” artist -I will always be a happy artist oops yes I am an artist -friend teehee
Looks like a great day of experimentation…..something we all need to step out and do occasionally….think you are being a little hard on yourself as I think the last piece looks very African, earthy and textural. Nice work!
Glad my little giraffe pillow led to all this experimentation! I love where inspirations can lead us! I’m forever seeing something I like, attempting something in the same vein and then ending up with a completely different piece. I love the weird scanner on fire one with the reds – so beautiful to me. And now I’m inspired…and off I go and so the cycle starts anew!
Carla,
May be strange, but I loved all of them.
Jan
Love the one that came out with the reddish background! Happy mistake as far as I can see. Also love the idea of making a stuffed creature from a drawing!
I love it when something works out in totally different way from what you’d been aiming for but is still so pleasing (if not more so than what you’d had in mind).
I love this giraffe and it’s really interesting to hear how it came about.
Thanks for sharing the story behind this
.