Sunday 4 January 2009

Unfamiliar territory

This is one of the pieces that I needed to finish before the middle of January.
Needless to say it's the 3D module, not a fovorite form of working for me, but it's done now.
I started in the usual way with a brief and decided to work with ancient Norwegian architecture as the modue required that the finished piece must link to some form of architecture.
I found the image of the animals on an ancient Nordic chuch door during my research and thought they would make a good subject. The other restriction was that the container had to include some wadded work.
I got the idea of working the piece in white and then painting it in acrylic from the latest edition of CPS where I found a great article by Jo James and Dylan Curry.
It does require a leap of faith because once you've painted the piece, you then have to cover it in a wash of burnt umber and wipe it off again quickly, very, very, nerve wracking, but I'm quite pleased with the effect it gave.
It's a vey simple box that I'm sure some of you will recognise from Janet Edmonds beginner's guide to Embroidered Boxes.
I'm sorry there's no WIP pics but I had a bit of a trauma with my air brush in the middle of the painting and forgot to record the progress.



This cross signifies a Christian memorial.



10 comments:

Purple Missus said...

Sharon, this is wonderful. I can understand why you were worried about giving it a wash of Burnt Umber especially after all the work you obviously put into it. But its certainly paid off. Its lifted it high above a piece made with coloured fabrics and threads. Well done you.

Shirley Anne Sherris said...

Hi
A lovely box Sharon. Love the stylised animals. I often forget to take progress photos especially when on a roll. I have been given an air brush bit never had the time to play with it. It looks very accurate if you used it to paint the animals!!
Cheers
Shirley

Heather said...

These boxes are beautiful - no-one would ever think they had been covered in Burnt Umber paint! How brave to have tried it. What a marvellous result from working on a project you didn't really want to do. I love the symbolism you found in the lovely photos on your previous post

Julie said...

B.eautiful Sharon. It is a very distinctive box. We are going to Norway in July just for a week. I shall have to do some research too.

Pat said...

The box is beautiful Sharon, the paint bit sounds terrifying. I love the animal motif I almost expect them to move their heads.

Aussie Jo said...

Fantastic box Sharon, I love the decoration.

Françoise said...

It's really beautiful Sharon.
Do you plan to use it in real life after it's been assessed?

Val said...

Beautiful Sharon - just beautiful. The paint certainly takes it to the next level!

Unknown said...

It looks beautiful Sharon!

hippopip said...

Its great Sharon, well done,you are brave to paint it after all the work but you must be so pleased with the result