Starting a New Project
The word prompt for our next art group meeting is “SHOES….Historical”.
It has become a bit of a challenge to come up with an idea to illustrate the word that is just not the usual kind of image. So far there is a jester’s shoe and a mockup of the shoe Marie Antoinette wore on her way to the guillotine.
I took this photo of discarded auto parts several years ago–brake shoes. A bit more research and perusal of a repair manual, line drawings and I had a basic plan in mind.
Then on to selecting fabrics. I knew what colors I wanted to use—and these parts were laying on the ground with some leaf litter. The background of oak leaves on a dark background was perfect–then on to the brake shoes and the spring. I found two pieces of rusted muslin–perfect for those rusty parts—the spring had to be a different color–not true to life bu contrasting.
And yes that is a Tide box. I store my fabric in Tide boxes…it always smells nice and no problems with mildew in this humid climate.
I use freezer paper templates and free=hand cut some pieces. They are appliqued by hand using a fine thread onto the background—it is now ready for the machine work. It will be covered with a lot of thread to show both detail and form.
Sylvia Weir Art 