Bee’s Balm Sage in bloom outside the catio
Hi Friends,
I thought I’d give you an update on the 4′ x 8′ rust and leaf print commission piece I’m working on for a new spa in Kansas City, Missouri. I’m breaking the piece up into three 48″ x 30″ panels, which will hang side-by-side.
You may remember that the spa owners weren’t too keen on my first iteration of the piece, and wanted something that’s more spacious with less color and more breathing room. They liked this 12″ x 12″ piece.
My thought was to work with rusty rebar only, and then mask circular shapes and do some painting on top, in layers.
Here’s how the rust pieces turned out.
And here’s a Photoshop mockup of how I envisioned the piece with the painting on top.
Their feedback was that they are looking for the piece to be breathy and light with pops of rust and flower/leaf prints. They want it to be calming and not too busy or dark, like this 26″ x 26″ piece.
So I’ve been attempting to lighten it up, but I wouldn’t say that I’m there yet. Here’s my latest version. The center panel isn’t bad, but overall it’s probably too busy and too dark.
The rust and leaf prints develop really fast in warm weather. These pieces only sat and rusted for five days. It looks like I’m going to have to cut that back to maybe three days, and use a lot fewer rust pieces and leaves.
I wonder what would happen if I washed these in something like OxiClean. Would it take some of the color out? I might try that with one of them.
I think part of what makes the piece that they like work is the horizontal handstitching, but I can’t handstitch a 4′ x 8′ piece. It would take a very long time.
I’ve been thinking about how to create a similar effect without actual stitching. I used a small sample piece and drew subtle horizontal lines with white and gray colored pencils. It’s not bad. I think it adds interest and pulls the piece together a bit.
Custom pieces like these are hard to do, because the materials are unpredictable. I don’t have a lot of control over the outcome, so I have to keep trying until I get something that looks good.
What are your summer plans? I’d enjoy hearing your thoughts. You can share them with us in the comments section below.
With love and appreciation,
Cassandra
What a lovely photo to open my eyes to this morning. Love all the possibilities that printing with rust has to offer including its unpredictability!
I recently created a 5′ x 5′ chuppah, a commission for a longtime client and scaling up has its challenges for sure!
Summer plans yet to be decided other than a little gardening!
Hi Maria. Wow, 5′ x 5′ definitely sounds challenging. At least with the piece I’m working on I can split it up into three smaller panels. I’ll bet that chuppah looked amazing!
a commission, such a different challenge for an artist !
cheers, salli
Hi Salli. Yes, it’s definitely a challenge, but I get to learn a lot in the process!