Graffiti

Today I'm posting the next steps in the making of my Urban Graffiti piece. Today's post is about adding the graffiti.

This is the sketch version of the photo I am using. I want to add some graffiti to the wall behind the kids. The first step was figuring out what I wanted the graffiti to say. Since these are in reality kids trying to look tough, and not real thugs, I wanted the word I used to not be too menacing. I decided that they kind of looked like they might be hanging out and one of their friends walks up to join them and they say “What’s Up?” in a very cool manner. So my graffiti will be “W’SUP?”. Now to write this in a graffiti-like manner…

I went to Google Images and found some graffiti alphabet images. I chose a style that I liked

 and mimicked it to write the word “W’SUP?”.  Here is the graffiti version of it:

I then had this enlarged to fit the dimensions of the piece so I could trace it to the fabric on the wall behind the kids. I'll have to show you that in a later post. In the meantime, thanks for visiting my blog!

Movie Review- Danny Collins

Movie Review - "Danny Collins", 3/4. 

just some really cool looking fabric

Al Pacino stars as Danny Collins, an aging rock star who realizes his life lacks any real personal connection. He goes off in search of the son he never knew. I am not a big Al Pacino fan because his characters are so over the top, but I was pleasantly surprised by this movie. I found myself liking Danny Collins in spite of his flaws. The movie didn't overly sugar coat his transformation, which I found refreshing. It also has a lot of good actors including Jennifer Garner, Danny Cannavale, Annette Benning and Christopher Plummer. I think it was worth seeing. 

Movie Review - Ex Machina

Movie Review - Ex Machina, 3.75/5

This is another movie about Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the moral quandaries/risks we take when go down that road. In this movie a computer programmer "wins" a visit to the secluded home of the founder of the giant Google-like computer company he works for. Quickly discovers he has been brought there to evaluate the "AI" the founder created. The AI is a she, and the programmer finds her very alluring. Before long he wants to do more than just evaluate her. The movie does a good job creating a tense, uneasy dynamic between the founder and programmer. The story is told in an understated fashion which adds to the tension. It's got a good ending, which left me thinking about it for a couple days. I recommend it.  

Urban Graffiti - Next Steps

Photograph by Alexandra Sloan

I'm continuing my posting about the Urban Graffiti Fiber Art piece today. This is the photo I'll be using for the piece. I need to get it transferred to fabric, and that is what this post is about.

Rather than draw out each kid, I decided to make a line drawing of the photo using an APP on my IPhone called “Sketch”.  This line drawing of the photos is saved as a jpeg. Here is the Sketch version of this photo:

My next step was to have the sketch jpeg printed on fabric by Spoonflower. The desired finished size of the piece is 24”high  x 36”wide, so I had it printed to fit those dimensions. I’ve wanted to try this technique for a while and it will save me time, which I am short of for this entry. 

Next steps that I will post about are adding Graffiti to the wall. Thanks for visiting my blog!

Urban Graffiti!

I belong to Quilts on the Wall, and they are having a call for a juried exhibit entitled “Urban Graffiti”. Truth be told, I am not a fan of graffiti. It’s always been defacement of public property to me. I wasn’t sure I wanted to try to enter a piece in this exhibit or not. I decided I would only do it if I came up with an idea that really inspired me and allowed me to get past my graffiti "issue".

Alexandra Sloan is a photographic artist and she is a very good friend of mine. A few years ago she took her son and some of his classmates on a field trip to Washington D.C. to see the Capitol. The kids were probably 13 or 14 at the time. While there she had several of them pose as “tough guys” against a cinder block wall with candy cigarettes, and she shot a few photos of them. She sent me one of these on a greeting card and I always remembered it and loved the subtle humor it conveyed.

I got her permission to use these photos as a basis for a fiber art piece for this exhibit. Here are the photos she sent me:

photograph by Alexandra Sloan

photograph by Alexandra Sloan

I decided to use the photo of the five kids instead of the nine kids. Each kid is larger and I liked the simpler feel of it.

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So I guess I’m going to try to get a piece in this exhibit. Hopefully I can get it done before the mid-July deadline! I’ll show you the steps of my progress in future posts. Thanks for visiting my blog!

Movie Review - Woman in Gold

Movie review- "Woman in Gold", 3.5/4.  Helen Mirren and Ryan Reynolds star in this movie about the legal battle over the return of a famous painting taken from a Jewish family by the Nazis. Helen Mirren's character is the Niece of the "Woman in Gold" and the rightful owner of the painting. The movie does a very good job depicting the personal importance of the painting to her. I also liked Ryan Reynolds as the attorney and his evolution as a result of this case. I recommend it.