This is Marley, my mom’s dog. It’s probably the best picture I’ve ever taken of her, and I’ve technically already used it once in a painting, but a good reference is a good reference. Don’t mind her spit bubble.
As usual, I made a stencil by using my mom’s bf’s iPad (I seriously considered shelling out over 1k for my own of that size before I realized I’d probably really be only using it for this, because my iPad Air 2 still works fine for what I need it for thankyouverymuch and like, over 1K?? Plus over $100 for a pen? When I can just his use? Criminal), and then cut out each section. You have to be a bit generous with the shapes because it’s impossible to get this absolutely perfect as it’s by far from a realism portrait. Letting loose with art is a new concept for me lol.
I already had most of the fabric on hand, but went out to specifically get the black fabric with flowers, because I wanted it to be a bit different from the rest of her mottled colour. Part of the good thing about buying new fabric for this kind of craft is that there was a sale and it was half off and I paid less than $3 Canadian for a good swatch of more than what I needed for this. On the flip side, a whole bedsheet or comforter cover or shower curtain or whatever is like, $8 at Value Village. Cheaper, way more material, but way less selection. Anyway.
And here’s the finished piece! The background was from a sheet set my mom was gifted while visiting her family in Italy, but it didn’t end up fitting her bed. I don’t love how it turned out, but I wanted to incorporate it somehow so she at least still had a piece of it left. The frame is thrifted from the Habitat for Humanity Re-Store. You want to look for frames that are in-set from the front. Meaning, there’s no glass in front of the artwork, and the depth is at least 1″, or the depth of your piece.
It looks complicated, but it actually goes really quickly once you start putting pieces in. I started tracing on Friday, and finished the piece on Sunday, and probably could have had it done Saturday had I not booked myself a bunch of other things to do on the same day. lol.
