First Quarter Challenge 2014 – Lyn’s Entry

First Quarter Challenge 2014 – Lyn’s Entry

Our Guest Post today for the First Quarter Studio Challenge, is from Lyn.

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I’ve enjoyed this challenge and I’ve learnt a little about one of America’s most influential artists. Some of Jackson Pollock’s art is interesting, yet some pieces remind me of kitchen counter tops – for example, ‘Lavender Mist’:

lavender-mistI wanted to find a Jackson painting to inspire me so I hit ‘Google images’ and quickly found one I liked.
It was headed ‘Abstract art by Jackson Pollock, oil painting on canvas’.
Enthusiastically I chose my colour palette:

Jackson Pollock merino wool paletteAt this point, I would like to have shown you the painting that was my inspiration, but (blushing ever so slightly) I can’t.
I have since discovered that it’s really a ‘Pollock-style’ painting that’s mass produced in Asia.

So, moving swiftly on, here is my Pollock-style felt picture – finished size is 18″ x 15″.

felt in the style of Jackson PollockI made a base of two layers of white merino topped with one layer of rusty-red.  I started the fourth layer by making a border all around with the same red, then working inwards with ever decreasing ovals, I put down dusty orange,  gold, yellow then white in the middle.  The fifth layer was a repeat of the fourth.  On top I placed strips of blue, rusty-red and slate in a representation of broad brush strokes then drizzled some strands of silk tops along some of them.  Finally, I dotted on wool nepps to represent drips of paint.

After ten minutes of agitating the wool fibres, I folded the edges under because I wanted the finished piece to have quite straight edges, as a painting on a canvas would.  They were looking good and straight during the felting but they warped during the fulling because of the uneven layers.

Happy though I was with finished piece, I decided to cut it up with a rotary cutter and re-arrange the slices.  I stuck the slices to a board, took a photo, then added a border to make it look like a painting.

framed felt in the style of Jackson Pollock - mk iiNow, where did I put the phone number for the Tate Modern……

24 thoughts on “First Quarter Challenge 2014 – Lyn’s Entry

  1. They are beautiful Lyn, either one would look perfectly at home in an abstract art exhibition. I’m struggling to choose a favourite, they both have great energy and the colours are lovely. I think the first piece might just pip the other to the post, there’s a serene quality to the curved lines that keep drawing me in.

    Well done!

  2. Congratulations on your choices and even though it looks like someone just threw paint on a canvas, you now know that it is not that simple. You have a beautiful piece and you may even do more to it after you look at it for a while. I am still trying to find time to get started.

  3. It turned out great Lyn You did a great job of getting a paint look. l Like you I like it better after you cut it up and rearranged it. the original is ok but the finished piece is wow, it pops much more.

    1. I just scrolled up to check – the second piece does ‘pop’ more (and it was fun chopping up the original to make it).

  4. Lyn they are definitely modernist abstract. You did a great job of planning to make it look unplanned. 🙂 As I mentioned the forum, I like them both, but the second one is more ethereal giving it another dimension.

    1. Thank you Marilyn. If I were to do a chopped up one again though, I’d stop just before fulling started, chop it up, then place the strips on some pre-felt and carry on with the felting process. That way the ‘joins’ would look much better.

  5. Bravo, Lyn! Your Pollock challenge is quite spectacular, and I had to look back and forth ten times before choosing my favorite (the second one, simply because it’s got more depth!), but why choose a favorite? Both appeal. How brave to slice up your masterpiece!

  6. Even the bundles of wool look gorgeous 🙂
    I like the way both of them look too. I don’t think I’d have been brave enough to slice either, maybe just do it on Photoshop! Great job, Lyn.

    1. I know what you mean about the bundles of wool Zed – I love drooling over my sample books from WofW and Wingham!
      Photoshop! What a brilliant idea – I really didn’t need to cut it up, although I did actually enjoy slicing the felt up and re-arranging it, but using photoshop could be useful for working out the cuts couldn’t it?

  7. Lyn – I had to laugh about the Chinese produced “Pollock Style Painting”. But as long as it’s in the style, it doesn’t really matter where the inspiration came from. I really like how you did the layered ovals and you were quite brave about chopping it up. I like how edges of the sliced pieces show but you could needle felt them down to a background. That would be easier with a needle felting machine. Can’t remember if you have one of those. I think the Tate Modern would be the perfect hanging place for it 🙂

    1. I was a tad embarrassed when I discovered my mistake, but as you say, it’s in the style.
      I did have a needle felting machine, but after a short while I realised that it wasn’t for me so I sold it. The joins would always show because of the dramatic change of colour of wool in places, but if the piece had not been fulled I could have placed the slices onto a piece of pre-felt then felted the lot together to minimise the joins.
      Thank you for a very interesting challenge!

  8. did you mount your felt on a wooden board and use a spray adhesive? i was going to try using an artist’s canvas and was not sure if I need to put a a frame around it.

    1. Sorry for the late reply – only just noticed this comment. I used a wooden board and double sided carpet tape. The frame is false. I photographed the felt after it was stuck to the board, then cropped the photo and added a digital frame to the image using ‘pic monkey’.

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