Julia Mira
  • Home
  • Forest
  • Derelict Vehicles
  • People
  • Chickens, Fish, Etc.
  • Outliers
  • Drums
  • Artifacts
  • About & CV
  • Contact
  • Blog
  • Straw Weaving

The Camas Vest

6/28/2015

0 Comments

 
A commissioned garment, made entirely from recycled items.

The liner is metal-thread sari cloth that I used as a curtain for a while, but then retired. The 100% wool vest fabric comes from a brilliant orange skirt that I found in the free box years ago, intending to use it for something. But who wears orange? Then my sister took me to Scrap in Portland, where I found a tub full of fabric dye. Orange + spruce = maroon, turns out.

The recipient of the vest is a botanist with a special interest in camas, hence the embroidery on the back, which I did first (using thread from a scary tangle of thread given to me by an old lady who used to embroider but stopped). When I looked at the result, and at what the recipient usually wears, I realized the overall effect needed to be far less conventionally pretty and symmetrical. One of her other interests is pollinating bees, so I took photos around my place until I got a nice crisp image from one on a blackberry blossom. I worked on that part during various end-of-year meetings at school. 

Then there was the pocket. Woman clothes often don't have pockets because they spoil the lines of the garment, and because we are supposed to have a purse. A botanist in the field, though, doesn't care as much about the lines of the garment as about where to put the stuff that has come out of the backpack – the camera, the notebook and pencil, the tape measure, the sample bags. This one is capacious enough for all of that. If there's more, she can use her backpack the way she's supposed to.

And finally I draw your attention to the appliquéd salal leaves, which originally came from a ball gown that I wore for a family reunion 15 years ago. We all wore ball gowns, and had a hilarious time, so I never could throw the thing away. The time has come to give it new life.
0 Comments

Barry's Truck

6/28/2015

0 Comments

 
Picture
Quite a few properties around here have old trucks rusting away in the woods. A few years ago somebody organized an island-wide cleanup and tons of old vehicles were barged off to be recycled. Now, a new generation of clunkers are queuing up (to be fair, this one could probably still be kludged into running). My mission? To paint them all before they are sent to the knacker. It is the intersection of human and wilderness that fascinates me.
0 Comments

Sails on the Adventuress

6/28/2015

0 Comments

 
Picture
About ten years ago, my ex used to bring boxes of free vegetables to the crew of the Adventuress. Now and then they'd invite us aboard and I took lots of closeup photos. Now, several data-losses later, I don't have those images anymore but I do have an old painting from then. 

I'll be taking the school group on a three-day sail on the Adventuress in fall, and so I touched up the old painting to use as an auction item for our fundraiser.
0 Comments

Palomino

6/28/2015

0 Comments

 
Picture
A commission from a blurry old photo. I might work a bit more on her hand, but maybe not. The transition from blur to splodges of paint intrigues me. What if I were to take a photo of this at low resolution and paint from the photo, etc? Sort of like putting a block of text into translate.google.com, and then repeatedly translating the translation. In fact, here goes: 

A committee of the image are instant. I worked a little with his hands, but not Le. The ability to alter matte paint splodges treacherous me. If I were to take a picture under the decision, and paint a picture, and so on? Kind of like a text block to translate.google.com government, MA Continues to translate. In fact, here and says:
0 Comments

      

      

    Archives

    April 2023
    January 2023
    September 2022
    July 2021
    July 2020
    April 2020
    February 2020
    December 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    June 2018
    December 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    October 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    February 2016
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    August 2011
    April 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010

    Categories

    All
    Apple
    Biocities
    Buoys
    Calligraphy
    Curating
    Cyanotype
    Driftwood
    Drum
    Edinburgh
    Florence
    Forest
    Framing
    Hanko
    Illuminated Manuscript
    Japan
    Kimono
    Kos
    Kyoto
    Leeds
    Madrona
    Manhole
    Mind
    Mixed Media
    Museum
    Nature
    Oil Painting
    Painting
    Plants
    Pottery
    Reflections
    School
    Sea Life
    Sendai
    Shoyu
    St Andrew
    St Andrews
    Studio Shot
    Taiko
    Tea Ceremony
    Technology
    Temple
    Tokyo
    Vancouver
    Venice
    Watercolor

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.