OK, so I've been a very bad girl and have not blogged in a really long time. My friend Stacey had to give me a swift kick and get me back blogging again, so here I am!
"Patriotic Bling" -- this jacket makes me feel so nostalgic whenever I look at it. It has a permanent place in my studio. Back in the day I used to paint on clothing, and have always loved rhinestones, so it was a natural to put the two together. As you know by now, I love painting women, so doing something with Lady Liberty got me started down the path of creating something with a patriotic theme. This old 80's denim jacket was just hanging around, so it became my canvas.
I started by hand-sewing all the red bugle beads, then began adding the jewels and rhinestones, and while doing that and looking at the result, and wanting to paint the Statue of Liberty, it just started to evolve. I thought, how cool it would be for her to be revealed from behind the American flag. So, I painted her on leather and applied her to the jacket, then created the flag effect with the zipper. It became, like, unzipping the flag revealed Lady Liberty.
After that I thought about the sleeves. Since the jacket was becoming a patriotic statement, I painted "America", also on leather, and applied to one sleeve. I absolutely love living in California, so that was an easy choice for the other sleeve. And then, I added the shoulder appliques, put a few fitting rhinestone and jeweled pins, and there it was!
I thought it turned out kinda nice, and Orange County was having its County Fair at the time, so I thought "Why not?", and entered it in the fair, and guess what! It won first prize and Best in Show! I actually did wear it once to a concert (Fine Young Cannibals -- where are they now? !!). The jacket really became a labor of love for me and like I said I keep it in view always!
"Patriotic Bling" -- this jacket makes me feel so nostalgic whenever I look at it. It has a permanent place in my studio. Back in the day I used to paint on clothing, and have always loved rhinestones, so it was a natural to put the two together. As you know by now, I love painting women, so doing something with Lady Liberty got me started down the path of creating something with a patriotic theme. This old 80's denim jacket was just hanging around, so it became my canvas.
I started by hand-sewing all the red bugle beads, then began adding the jewels and rhinestones, and while doing that and looking at the result, and wanting to paint the Statue of Liberty, it just started to evolve. I thought, how cool it would be for her to be revealed from behind the American flag. So, I painted her on leather and applied her to the jacket, then created the flag effect with the zipper. It became, like, unzipping the flag revealed Lady Liberty.
After that I thought about the sleeves. Since the jacket was becoming a patriotic statement, I painted "America", also on leather, and applied to one sleeve. I absolutely love living in California, so that was an easy choice for the other sleeve. And then, I added the shoulder appliques, put a few fitting rhinestone and jeweled pins, and there it was!
I thought it turned out kinda nice, and Orange County was having its County Fair at the time, so I thought "Why not?", and entered it in the fair, and guess what! It won first prize and Best in Show! I actually did wear it once to a concert (Fine Young Cannibals -- where are they now? !!). The jacket really became a labor of love for me and like I said I keep it in view always!
