Posts Tagged “fabric postcard”

Giovanna Albizzi Paying Homage to Venus and the Graces, Lemmi Villa Fresco, currently at the Louvre, Paris, France
This is really interesting…Botticelli was commissioned by the Tourbuoni family, during the Italian Renaissance, to paint 2 frescoes to honor the marriage of their son Lorenzo to Giovanna. The frescoes are currently in terrible shape because they were meant to be party decorations and were white washed after the marriage celebrations. It was in 1863 that the Lemmi family, who then owned the villa, uncovered the fresco during a renovation. If they hadn’t renovated, this fresco may have been lost forever. How many other treasures have been lost since then? You can read about it here.

2 of the Graces that I chose to paint
I applied a 1″ grid over my desired section, after I resized the painting to 4.25″ x 6″.

My painting on fabric, not yet sewn or quilted, 4″ x 6″

My painted section took quite a long time; though I did find it rather enjoyable. I haven’t spent as much time this week in my studio as I had hoped. I also had to come to terms with the fact that I probably wouldn’t achieve the antique craquelure of the fresco, but will see what I can do with thread once I quilt it this evening.

The aftermath…I am a messy painter!

I had the most bizarre dream early this morning. It woke me up around 5am, so after trying in vain to go back to sleep I decided to get up and research some dream symbols while having my first cup of coffee of the day. So, in my dream, I was with my former landscape architecture studio peers. Only they were on a school fieldtrip and I happened to bump into them at the zoo. While we were making idle chit chat, the most amazing colorful large beetles began swarming all over my left arm. I would try to swat them away, and they wouldn’t budge, and then the beetles started crawling under my sleeves. These beetles were magenta, cobalt blue, orange, yellow, emerald green and black. Panic started to creep in and that’s when I woke up. According to Dream Moods when a person dreams about bugs, it is symbolic of anxieties and fears.

Weird, since all I have been thinking (obsessing) about the past few days is the possibility of a family relocation. My husband has an interview on Monday morning in Steamboat Springs, CO (population 9,354 as of 2005) for possible employment with Routt County. We’ve decided to make it a family affair and go up for the weekend. We’ll tool around and try to ski on Sunday. I’m a fair weather skier so if it’s too cold or snowy, I’ll head on over to the hot springs instead. Despite trying to stay away from the internet, I spent the last 2 days looking at real estate, schools and other facts that would affect our lives. I have to stop worrying about it though because first he has to be offered the job.

Tags: botticelli, dream symbols, fabric postcard, steamboat springs

Quilted, Painted, Fabric Postcard: Botticelli
Reverse of fabric postcard after stitching, but before finishing

Finito! I was going to wait until Monday to finish stitching, but fortunately, my husband decided to make dinner and a batch of margaritas. So, here it is painted, stitched and ready to go. And, I didn’t even sustain an injury while operating small machinery and drinking! This particular one isn’t for sale. It happens to be a New Year’s gift to my Mom! Happy New Year’s Mom!!!

I included the reverse of the front of the postcard just because I loved the line quality of the thread.

Tags: botticelli, fabric postcard

The original as downloaded from the internet

I thought an orange batik would be the perfect fabric for the base and I learned a new technique…staple the fabric while I’m painting so that it doesn’t curl or buckle

The beginning of the painting

The finished painting

My final rendition, stitched and assembled
I ended yesterday’s post by mentioning some other artists who were also symbolists like Klimt, including Norwegian artist, Edvard Munch. So, I decided I definitely needed to do one of his pieces. His painting, The Scream (1893) is such an iconographic piece and is still so recognizable today!

I learned a little bit though…I always thought it was a self portrait of the artist in a manic state. It is in a sense…this is what he wrote in his diary “I was walking along a path with two friends—the sun was setting—suddenly the sky turned blood red—I paused, feeling exhausted, and leaned on the fence—there was blood and tongues of fire above the blue-black fjord and the city—my friends walked on, and I stood there trembling with anxiety—and I sensed an infinite scream passing through nature.”

It was during this time that Munch’s sister was interned in an insane asylum. Someone has also linked this time period with the eruption of a volcano on the Island of Krakatoa, whose volcanic ash caused intense red sunsets all over the world. Another interesting note is that he rendered several different versions of the painting in his lifetime. And, from time to time one is stolen and then recovered again!

I find all this info really interesting…what information are we passing on in our art?

I will be posting this one for sale on Etsy…I’m still undecided on the Klimt one.

Tags: Edvard Munch, fabric postcard, mini art quilt, the scream