Papier mâché sculpture: Chickens

I am terribly fond of rusty nails, especially the ones that are left behind in the fireplace after burning bits of wood from gutted buildings. My collection of such encrusted, contorted, disfigured lengths of metal is big. I used some of them for my series of life size paper chickens.

Paper, cardboard, wood, nails, copper wire,
acrylic paint, oil varnish. 2007.
Length: 35cm, 45cm

Printmaking: Collograph

I like the contrast of the human shape and the line work of architecture. In this collograph I set a silhouette of figures against colossal buildings. The big TV screen gave the image its title: Commercial.
I used hardboard, glue, acrylic varnish and engraving tools to make the printing plate.

Hardboard, Speedball waterbased relief ink, 

Caligo watersoluble intaglio ink on cartridge paper. 2007.
Size: 42 x 60cm

Fabric design: T-shirts

Here is another example of custom made T-shirts from my design studio. I used figure-stamps and added drawings of accessories as one has seen them in a circus performance.

T-shirt Circus.
Stamps carved in Speedball Speedy-Cut block,
Cotton fabric, procyon fabric dye, Setacolor fabric paint. 1997.

Fabric design: T-shirts

Apart from painting recycled furniture, the mainstay of my Canadian design studio were T-shirts and light cotton jumpers. I dyed all the fabric by hand, and decorated the garments using stamps, stencils, foam rollers, metal tipped applicator bottles... It was fortunate that my supplier had - and still has - her store in the same village where I used to live, in Deep Cove, North Vancouver, British Columbia. If I ever ran out of something, I just had to walk up the road to Sheryl at Opulence Silks and Dyes Ltd. Gallery and replenish my stock.

T-shirt Band.
Stamps carved in Speedball Speedy-Cut block, 

cotton fabric, Procyon fabric dye, Setacolor fabric paint. 1997.

Papier mâché sculpture: Agony

When I made this small sculpture, I needed to express exactly such feelings. Wire and paper are quite suitable materials to this end! 

  Wire, paper, acrylic paint, acrylic varnish. 2008. 

Height: 50cm

Recycled furniture: Table

This design was created by masking off successive parts of the beechwood tabletop and painting it in different colours. I wasn't thinking of a particular motive, but I began to see an image:
 

Deserted place,

trees stretching toward the horizon.

Dust on the sidewalk,

dappled with sunlight.

Curtains drawn to block out the heat.

Branches yearning

for the cool of concrete.

This image reminds me of a still and brooding Sunday Afternoon, which I chose as the name for this table.

Beechwood, acrylic paint, varnish. 1999.
Size: 64 x 64 x 74cm

Fabric design: Place mats

Some of my earliest designs were for place mats. They belong on a table, so I decorated them with food and kitchen themes.

Acrylic paint, acrylic varnish, cotton cloth. 1994.
Size: 40 x 30cm