New website!

Out with the old, in with the new! It's a new chapter in my life, freshly married! Time to upgrade and get me a website!

Please come over and check out my new site

www.rhiannonjames.co.nz

See you there!

On your up-cycle bicycle!

July has crept up on me. Suddenly I'm getting married this month! Eek! Am I ready? I think so. It feels like we've been thinking, planning, saving, living for this day for the past 18 months and now it is finally upon us! Hurry up! I'm ready now. 

The big task was designing and making my own wedding dress. It was something I really wanted to do and I'm pleased to say it's been a success. Can't wait to share it with you VERY soon!

Somehow, amongst the mad bunting making and endless adjustments to my dress, I've managed to create some new pieces. They are all created from existing materials I had around the home; broken jewellery, vintage fabrics, printed transfers, resins, maps and papers.

Cut & Paste

Hey this is my 50th post! I'm impressed! This blog has now been going for 2 years. 2 years of awesomeness - am I right!? (high five) 

Yeah, so anyway...I've been working on several different projects at once lately, also organising a wedding, oh and trying to hold down a 9-5, so perhaps that is the reason my mind feels loud lately. I'm trying to take my work in a more positive direction, as I have a tenancy to lean to the dark side. Yes I did just do that. I've been looking at places again and how they effect people. I've been looking at my home where I grew up, Jon and his home, and the place we will join together as one. Awww spew, I know. But its good for the soul.

Here are some of the preliminary collages before printing. Collaging itself was really nice and I've gone off on a jewellery tangent lately, mixing paper, stitch and fabrics. But thats a different post. 

This series is called Me, You, Together. Working on creating digital prints on textiles. Cushions for Christmas anyone?!

Collagraph Angel

Here she is, the blessed damozel.

Ok so the bar isn't gold and the lilies are more like massive daisies but you get the idea! The angel may or may not have had purple hair. I'm taking artist liberties here!

My aim was to create an emotional print, using cool blue tones to show the sorrow implied in the poem. Drapery is ever present in Pre-Raphaelite works, and I wanted to capture those textures of flowing fabric. How better to do this then by using actual fabric? Working in textiles has it's perks! Collagraph was my chosen print process as this enabled me to create a plate to print directly from these materials.

The print size and shape were mainly inspired by William Morris' Red House and his stain glass windows. But more on that later..


The figure is hand drawn like a dry point into the card, to create soft painterly line.

Peek inside my sketchbook..

So what inspired me whilst chilling at the V & A? Well, I'll let you into a little secret - I'm a HUGE Pre-Raphaelite fan, in particular Dante Gabriel Rossetti. He's so dreamy with his romantic style. I find myself getting lost in dramatic flowing fabrics and serene scenes of medieval chivalry.


























Inspiration hit me in the face after learning the painting 'The Day Dream' was inspired by a poem he wrote. Oh yes, he wrote poetry! (For me). I really liked this idea, and researched more into Rossetti’s poems. I found myself day dreaming over a romantic poem called ‘The Blessed Damozel’ about an angel outside heaven, pining for her lover back on earth. Alas they cannot be together! The imagery in the poem inspired the imagery in my print, such as ‘The Blessed Damozel lean'd out 
From the gold bar of Heaven; She had three lilies in her hand,’ ‘And laid her face between her hands,
 And wept’. After several preliminary sketches, I confirmed my composition.



Pictures of the prints to come..