Small Things: Plants and Microorganisms

Haven't had a lot of time for crafts recently but ATCs are just the kind of art one can do with a small amount of time.  (If you haven't heard about them here is a little info.)  The guideline for this swap was to have a cut-out and an add on item.  I really enjoyed learning more about foraging while in the US this last year so I thought that would be a great theme for this card.  I used a page from my old, worn copy of Peterson's A Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants: Eastern and Central North America that had fallen out for the middle ground.  The trillium is a pen and watercolor pencil drawing displayed in the cutout of the text.  I added more forgeable plants on top in the form trim, drawing and beads.

Forage ATC

I also had some excitement in that I won the ATC giveaway from Bridget.  This was her Additive/Subtractive Book Page card from a 1953 yearbook about Queen Elizabeth II's coronation.  Nicely done!

And on to other small things, this week, on Spoonflower, is a Microorganism design contest.  My younger son was excited about this theme and asked to help design my entry.  He did all of the drawing and I am responsible for the color of this small scale ditsy design.  Please consider voting.

Old School Vibrant Microorganisms

 

Paul Jacoulet

Senegalese Lady with Sothiou and Bambara Fan

The latest ATC challenge was to design a card based on or styled after your favorite artist. It is difficult for me to pick a very favorite artist. It is like trying to pick a favorite color---so many are beautiful, how to choose just one?  I decided to focus on the work of Paul Jacoulet because he is one of my favorites I have not yet worked with.



An example of a Ukiyo-e print

First an explanation of my ATC. This tiny acrylic painting is of a Pulaar Senegalese woman dressed for a special occasion. She is chewing a sothiou (pronounced so-chew) stick which people use here as a kind of toothbrush (and I have heard that it really works for this purpose.) She is holding a Bambara fan which is a kind of woven wicker fan. Her dress is a loose flowing robe that is tie dyed bazin. She wears a matching headwrap. She wears golden beads sewn into her hair. The women may have indigo ink tattooed around their mouth and chin and this is thought to make their smile more beautiful.
I choose the subject, a Pulaar woman, based on Jacoulet's subject preferences of documenting different ethnic groups. He spent much of his career visiting many of the small islands around Japan and the greater Pacific and made prints of the indigenous people. These are important especially because many of the island inhabitants lost their traditional way of life soon after World War II.

Jacoulet was Frenchman who lived in Japan most of his life. His printmaking style is Japanese and he was influenced by Ukiyo-e prints. He was known for exacting standards and high quality materials. He used ground mica, metals and pearls in his prints to give them a luminous look.  Check out a few of his prints at the bottom of this post.

12cm x 9cm inset painted on glass, artist unknown

His work also reminds me of the traditional Senegalese souwere (painting on glass see my previous post.)  Here is a beautiful piece, likely a Woolof woman, inset into a mosaic tea tray that I purchased  from Kamal Mosaic in Dakar.  Sadly, no artist was attributed.




Les Jades, Paul Jacoulet, 1940, one of his Christmas card prints



Sur le Sable, Rhull, Yap, Paul Jacoulet, 1937

Vielle Aino, Paul Jacoulet, 1950

Le Pacifique Mysterieux. Mers Du Sud (The Mysterious Pacific), Paul Jacoulet, 1951

Day of the Dead Art

I am participating again with a Spoonflower contest.  The theme of this contest is Ghosts and so I have submitted a design based on the Day of the Dead celebration from Mexico called Day of the Dead Dancing Ghosts.  This celebration is a rememberance of the ancestors who have died.  The dead are considered to be partying with the living during this festival.  Please consider voting in the contest.
At the bottom are two ATCs which are my interpretation of sugar skulls. Sugar skulls are used to represent the deceased.  Smaller skulls represent children and larger adults. You can learn how to make real sugar skulls here.

Happy Valentines Day!

In honor of valentines day I am posting a couple of small projects with romantic themes. 

First are three small hearts (~4 in.) for a hearts for a Dollstreet Dreamers heart exchange.  Each heart is made with a different African wax print fabric that I hand drew and then machine stitched. I painted each portrait with kissing lips using Jacquard acrylic fabric paints and added detail with Micron and gel pens.  I embroidered X's and O's, the traditional letters representing hugs and kisses on each heart.  I then embellished each piece with beads collected from South Africa and the United States.

 My second project is for yet another ATC swap with a mermaid theme.    The cards are drawn with colored pencils and ink on card stock.  These drawings are inspired by my daughter and her love of princesses.

Merbaby ATC swap

I am hosting a Merbaby swap on Swap-bot.  The sign-up is until December 9th and the last date to mail the cards is January 9th.  The swap entails creating two ATCs, one for each of your two partners.  I am not fussy about which technique you use but I do expect people to make the best cards they can. This is a great swap to participate in if you need a quick craft to do during the holiday season when you are at home.  Hope you join me!   For more information on Artist Trading Cards and what they are go here.