"Here kitty kitty"
1940's wallpaper, dyed Sycamore and reused frame
This project began around March this year when I began collecting vintage wallpaper with a vague but growing idea of using found pattern to create mixed media marquetry. As a trained marquetarian (using the modern technique of laser cutting the inlays) I know the medium reasonably well and am confident of the design process.
Using experience from past work and my fine art background I plan to combine my illustrations with pattern in order to create a reinterpretation of the craft of marquetry.
Marquetry is the craft of covering a structural carcass with pieces of veneer forming decorative patterns, designs or pictures.
wikipedia.org/wiki/Marquetry The images are rooted in a retreat to a state of innocent wonder and nature. Fairy tale-esque scenes deal with themes of solitude, child-like imagination and the promise of adventure and possibly danger.
Several characters are involved in various states of wonder or peril as elements of nature clash with understood spaces of safety (the home); or possibly in adventurous children’s cases: confinement (the house).
I have around 10 complete designs. The pictures below show the first finished picture titled "Here kitty kitty" which served as a test to find problems with the technique of mixing the unconventional materials.
