This group of trees starts with a paint and crayon picture I made as a child of 7. Next is a detail of a painting I did in art school and then part of an early fabric relief winter scene. The last two are taken from my book, Pocketful of Posies.
snowman and trees, 1963
from “Laplander Mural” 1977
detail from “Skating” 1987
from “Pocketful of Posies” 2010
from “Pocketful of Posies” 2010
Note: See other posts in the Close-ups series archive here.
Today, I’m starting a regular series called Close-ups, which will feature detailed images taken from my artwork. I’m having fun grouping different subjects for future posts. There will be close-ups from my childhood drawings, student work, sculpture, illustrations and fabric relief pieces, all presented in somewhat chronological order. The following cats are from my books, The Hollyhock Wall, Felt Wee Folk, Wee Willie Winkie and the upcoming book Pocketful of Posies.
For a tutorial on how to make this cat pin, see another post here.
from “Wee Willie Winkie”
detail from Pocketful of Posies
from “Pocketful of Posies”
Note: See other posts in the Close-ups series archive here.
Fairy bringing a pie for Thanksgiving
Happy Thanksgiving! I am thankful to all of you who have come to see and read my blog this past week. It’s been a pleasure to hear from so many of you and I am energized in a way that I haven’t felt in a long time. Ideas are coming fast, the scanner is warmed up and working overtime and the posts are queuing up. Please keep visiting!
Thanksgiving Dilemma, pen & ink by Salley Mavor 1976
I’ve been looking through my old portfolios from art school and came across this drawing of a Thanksgiving turkey dinner gone awry. I had forgotten how much I liked to draw before I started using mixed media techniques. I rarely draw now, except to work out designs for my illustrations. Needle and thread have replaced the pen and become my tools of choice. In future posts, I’ll be showing some more early work with the intention of pointing out common themes and styles in my evolution as an artist, regardless of the method or technique.
I made this soft sculpture stove 30 years ago, the first year out of art school. It is made with white satin, covering a padded cardboard structure. I remember spattering paint with a tooth-brush onto the black fabric which lines the inside of the oven. I can see velcro circles on the oven door. The oven rack is made from hair pins, the knobs from buttons and the clock is the face taken from an old wrist watch. It looks like the burners are key rings fashioned with hooks from hook-and-eyes. I don’t remember what the frying pan is made from, but it must be cloth as that is my material of last resort. And the pie crust lattice is likely made from kid leather. This stove has a refrigerator to match, which I’ll show another time.
Stove, 5" tall, fabric sculpture by Salley Mavor 1979
There’s nothing like the sight of a sleeping baby. I’m constantly on the lookout for natural objects that can be used as beds for my dolls. A baby can curl up in a cradle made from half a walnut-shell.
This walnut is bigger than most that you can buy in a bag at the super market. I usually pick out the larger ones during Thanksgiving season, when the stores sell them in loose bins. I am a curious sight, digging through the box, determined to find the biggest ones. To make the nuts more easy to split open, bake them in a low oven at about 200 degrees for a few hours. They start to crack along the center seam and you can then break them open with a knife. You can also cut the shells open with a fine saw. In the above illustration from my up-coming book, Pocketful of Posies (Sept. 2010), I sawed half a walnut-shell in half again lengthwise, so that the side could be seen in relief.
This blue suited baby is lying on real reindeer moss in a walnut-shell. He is part of an illustration from my board book, Wee Willie Winkie, on the page that says, “Are the children in their beds?” This image is available as a note card in my Etsy Shop. I edged the felt leaf with wire to give it a curvy, raised lip that fits the shape of the walnut. You can glue the shell in place or drill holes and sew it like a button.
detail from “You and Me Poems of Friendship” 1997
SALLEY MAVOR 