Kelly Doust introduces readers to her wonderful world of reviving and customising vintage pieces, while bringing a modern and unique twist to wearing vintage clothes – Dita Von Teese
Homely holiday craft
Goldfeather: a study in contrasts (or some such)
Happy new year to you.
After months and months of sewing pieces for the next book, and fun yet frenetic craft shoots for magazines, it’s been bliss doing very little over the last week. I love it when the three of us are here at home, with nothing much on the schedule. But I’ve been busy at one thing: painting and collage-making with my energetic two-year-old, one of the few activities which captures her imagination for more than ten minutes. I’m looking forward to a time when we can attempt something a little more ambitious together (a trip to Cirque du Soleil, perhaps?)
Here’s a couple of her creations, currently adorning the kitchen fridge:
Pastel configuration
Mixed media
Play of light & colour
If Magritte did collage
The woman who mistook her plate for a hat
… it would look something like this. Love these surreal cut-ups of fine art auction catalogues from Lowest Bidder, first spotted on Design Sponge.
‘My painting is visible images which conceal nothing; they evoke mystery and, indeed, when one sees one of my pictures, one asks oneself this simple question ‘What does that mean’? It does not mean anything, because mystery means nothing either, it is unknowable.’ – René Magritte
Peel of thought
Blooming
I see you
A many-wing'd thing
My collage heart
Wire heart from French Bazaar
I like displaying cards from friends when I’m given them, rather than popping them away in a box or even throwing them away. We have a large corkboard for doing just that, but it was starting to overflow – I thought this wire heart from French Bazaar was a great idea. I’ve hung it in an empty area of the kitchen and think it fills the space quite nicely.
A clever collage
Chandelier by Lisa Torrance
A very dear friend of mine made me a card recently which I admire so much I’ve decided to frame it. I’ve hung it above the hall table with other favourite artworks and family photos.
Looky here: it’s a chandelier, half-drawn, half-collage from cut up bits of paper taken from magazines and simply arranged on heavy parchment. One holiday away she made a whole series of them and my, they’re something to see. I hope she exhibits them one day – I’m sure people would snap them up.
Lisa's card, framed