Sunday 15 July 2012

Sail Away With Me...Leo

We're nearly at the end. I'll be back soon with lots to tell, I hope. But, before that, please welcome one last special guest. Today I'm asking Leo to..

Sail Away With Me


Hi I'm Leonora but you can call me Leo :) You can find me over on the Quirky Kits Blog,  or my own much neglected blog over on Scribbles n Scrappin .

I was really excited when Sian asked me to do a guest post because I like crafting/creating with a starting point I wouldn't have picked for myself and Sian has set the theme of 'Sail Away With Me'. I guess it could be interpreted any number of ways and before I began I was toying with which way to go with it, literal or not so literal and after I'd finished creating I came to the conclusion I'd really ended up doing both.
I started out just like I always do when I need to think of something and grabbed a page in sketchbook to scribble on. I kind of have this need to make notes and do quick scribbled sketches before I make anything just to narrow down my thinking a bit I guess.



So while scribbling I thought back to a past project I did a while ago at collage which was a giant fabric wall hanging inspired by paintings by Alfred Wallis who was famous for his naïve paintings of ships and the sea. (Alfred Wallis, http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/alfred-wallis-577) I love how the paintings give you a feeling of the sea not just a depiction of it. When I look at them I can really imagine the rolling roaring waves.
I set out to make a miniature fabric collage inspired by the paintings. I pulled together a stack of fabric pieces to use and then got to work cutting out and layering and stitching.


I used a 3.5 inch square of felt as the base to work on then used a mix up of fabrics, mainly felt and denim because of the blue/grey colours.



It was really so much fun to do I’d forgotten how nice it is sometimes just to be really carefree and not really care too much about what the outcome of what you’re creating will be. Kind of another way of ‘sailing away’ too I guess. J
When I’d finished I decided to use the collage on a card so I just layered together some patterned paper scraps on a card blank and added some Thickers to finish. The same process could be used directly on the surface of a scrapbook page to make an interesting background or it could be a different way to make custom embellishments that work with a particular scrapbook theme.


Isn't it beautiful? Makes me want to reach out and touch it! Leo, thank you. You'll find lots more cool quirky style over at Leo's place. And check out her kits too 



19 comments:

Lou said...

oh wow....it's lovely and one you want to stroke.

Good to see you back Sian. it's been lovely to see all the sail away with me posts x

Unknown said...

WOW!!!!! That is simply amazing! The boat looks so real on the waves. I can feel it going up and down. I love it!
Hope you had a great holiday Sian :-)

Carmen said...

Gorgeous! And I love that sneak peek into your thought process with the sketchbook too!

ForgedinPaper said...

Love this post. Very inspiring.

JO SOWERBY said...

oh leo that is amazing,
jo xxx

Melissa said...

Wow, that is certainly some beautiful fabric work!

scrappyjacky said...

It's absolutely gorgeous.

Ginger said...

That is such a wonderfully creative way of making a card! Love the swirls and the boat! Thank you for sharing your inspiration of "Sail Away with Me".

Thanks Sian - it has been a fun two weeks watching and waiting to see the next post!

Nathalie said...

Wow, I am impressed by the texture and design! Wonderful card that illustrates the subject perfectly!!!

Lizzie said...

That's lovely! I love all the texture, layers and colour mix. Also the various "wave" shapes - not too uniform, not boring, just right!
I was lucky enough to see the Alfred Wallis exhibition recently, at Kettles Yard in Cambridge. It was great to see this artist's work, gathered together in one place. They showed some of his letters and gave a lot of information about his life and work too.
I do think this little panel has caught the spirit of Wallis' work very well.

Elizabeth said...

That is beautiful! Thanks for the inspiration.

Alison said...

As a 'non-sewer', this looks like a true work of art to me!
Alison xx

Gem's Crafts said...

What a very beautiful card, truly stunning :) and I love how you've displayed your photos, are they digi frames?

Abi said...

oh wow! This is so beautiful! How talented you are, to make something like this out of nothing. Amazing xx

Lisa-Jane said...

I absolutely love this! I enjoyed how you came to make it and the end product too.

Scrappi Sandi said...

Pure inspiration TFS! :D

Sandie said...

I love the way you developed this idea, and the use of different fabrics.

Karen said...

This is simply gorgeous! It should hang on a wall!

Missus Wookie said...

Absolutely gorgeous and the texture must be lovely to stroke.

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