Monday, September 21, 2015

A Foray Into Zebradom

It's amazing how a very small thing can trigger an entire body of work, or an artistic detour.......for me it was this birthday card ("Baby and Zebras" designed by Suzan Visser for Edition inkognito) given to me recently by one of my sisters:


 I love zebra patterning, but what triggered something and set the thinking-wheels in motion was the tiny child on the zebra's back. A series of anthropomorphic animals! The first would be a zebra: here is the planning drawing and the head I made for it:


I made a cloth body with hip knee and shoulder joints - it needed to be as well-made as I could make it, as the doll would be unclothed and the fabric body would be on show, albeit with a striped livery that might disguise a few flaws! Here is the doll assembled before painting:


Then I went to town painting the stripes - that was fun! I used lots of zebra pictures as references and made a bit of it up as I went along. I cut a slit in the top and the back of the head to insert alternate pieces of black and white fur fabric for the mane......I never realized before that a zebra's mane follows the stripes in colouration.




I'm planning a fox next.


 


 
 

4 comments:

Kate said...

I'm dying here. This is fantastical and special beyond belief. I need to win the lottery so I can own the complete series. Seriously.

Susie McMahon said...

You're funny, Kate. I can't imagine what I would do if I won the lottery. Exactly what I wanted to, I suspect!

Wilma Simmons (Empress Wu Designs) said...

I love this new direction, Susie. Such a beautiful creature - a kind of example of the world at peace! It is said that great minds think alike. I wanted to try again the technique from the Canberra workshop, so I have a girl/fox head drying on my desk at the moment! It is ok - but not sure it will get to public photo stage! Thanks again for the workshop notes too - love the muslin over the clay effect.

Susie McMahon said...

Great, Wilma....glad you are having another crack at it. And I'd LOVE to see the results! I'm planning a bit of a series of these for an exhibition in Hobart at the end of the year.

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