The Wave And The Ghost
I’ve some great news! I have been asked to work additional commissions using my watercolor stitching method and have been hard at work on what will be five completed pieces by the end of November.
Using time outside of my schedule to produce visual art has been very fueling and a great way to practice time management through school and work. My professors have been very supportive of my pursuits, and I hope to create additional works during the wintertime to supply myself with substantial art pieces to present in my very own online shop! The hope here is that while I perform or during the bits of time in which i’m not performing, I will be able to sustain myself creating art I love for others to enjoy! The practice itself has truly been a meditative experience, keeping my thoughts centered and helping me cope with unforeseen circumstances this pandemic has stirred up.
My most difficult piece so far has been The Great Wave Off Kanagawa for a friend of mine. The combination of the ombré background, intricate replicating of each crest, and multiple kanji symbols was something I hadn’t yet pushed myself to do. Thus, the experience was tedious but well worth it, and I was thoroughly impressed by how alike the wave I had stitched looked alongside the famous original. It took me about 15 hours over the course of a couple months, whenever I had time. I’ve grown so attached to it, I may have to start from square one and create a wave of my very own!
A very unexpected and much anticipated piece was the ghostly red painting for my brother, David Allen. He had called upon me with the exciting idea of creating an album cover for his soon-to-be-released single, Words From A Ghost. I was very nervous but honored he trusted me completely with its vision, and was aided by several reference photos he was inspired by. I ended up making the piece more extensively immersed in mixed media, using sharpies and Copic markers to illustrate a silhouetted sky behind an empty road, stretching out to nowhere. In the foreground I had stitched a woman’s arms wrapping around some darkened figure, her eyes framing him in the center of my piece. All together, it was the first piece I had created almost entirely from my own conception—the others had all been stitchings of previous artwork.
When it was completed, he was SO excited, which made me feel even more proud of my growing expertise. What’s more, my work is now featured on Apple Music, Spotify, Bandcamp, and Youtube as the official cover for his released song, which I strongly recommend giving a listen below!
