An Inspired Piece of Artwork

My Artwork inspired by Lucienne Day and Orla Kiely.

This project is to make a piece of artwork inspired by either or both of the artists in the blogs, Lucienne Day and Orla Kiely.  Both of these designers gather inspiration from the everyday objects around them and , in particular, the world of nature. The colours of the seasons and the plant-life they produce.

For my inspiration I have chosen peapods which I love, and not just to eat. The green pods with their little hidden pea gems inside bursting to get out. The curling tendrils and delicate silk-like flowers.

I started scribbling some ideas.

My first step was selecting the paper to work on; I chose brown packing paper ( it had been used as packing round a glass from Ikea). I scrunched it up to give a textured effect.

I painted papers in various shades of green using acrylic paint in Ultramarine and Lemon Yellow. I used a large brush  and was quite rough, dragging the paint and leaving the brush marks. Again to give texture and a cloth like appearance.

I painted the crumpled brown paper with acrylic paint in a mix of Raw Sienna and Naples Yellow.

I made sure not to saturate the paper as I wanted the crinkles to stay intact and some of the background natural colour of the paper to shine through.

Leaving all these pieces to dry then requires plenty of patience, a virtue apparently :-)

I then added another small layer of texture by painting one edge of a small radiator roller with Burnt Umber and dabbing gently onto the crumpled paper.

Catching the edges of the crinkles gives a dimensional effect.

  

Using the darkest shade of green paper I drew, in pencil, on the back three individual abstract pea-pod shapes and cut them out. Using the next lighter shade of green paper, using the same method, I cut out individual roundish pea shapes.

  

This close-up picture of the pod shows the textural effect of the dragged paint.

Using the lightest painted green paper and the same method, I added the next layer of depth to the peas. None of the shapes are the same nor are any of the rounds placed in the same position. This, I feel, keeps the image alive and interesting to the viewer. I have three pods for the same reason as odd numbers are visually appealing.

Again, a close-up showing the painted effects.

After viewing the completed pods, I felt the piece required a little bit of a zing, a bit of brightness. I painted some paper with acrylic paint mixing Lemon Yellow with the merest hint of Ultramarine and added some little highlights to the peas.

Again, a close-up of the piece. As I placed all the components I tried to make sure the paint striations all lay in different directions.

I then made the stems with Burnt Umber coloured paper and the petals using the Yellow highlight coloured paper. For added interest and to give the piece an extra dimension,  I inverted the central pod.

After I was happy with the placement of all the individual pieces, I used PVA glue to stick them all together. The whole piece was then placed under a heavy book to aid  the pieces staying intact and to stop the edges curling. I then left it to dry.

Once dry, I added the last motifs of curling tendrils using left over light green paper.

Here we have the finished piece.

After all that, I think I'll look for some peapods to eat now.