GIVEAWAY: Custom Country or State Necklace

Head over to Monster Bites to find out how you can win one of these beautiful Gatto Selvatico Custom Country or State Necklaces of your liking. Good luck to all!! Buona fortuna a tutti!!

Artemis

I'm working on a series of large mixed media drawings loosely based on Greek Goddesses. So far there is Demeter, Aphrodite and Artemis which I finished this month. There will be five in total and Hera and Athena are the ones that I have to finish.






















Artemis. Mixed media, graphite and watercolor on paper, 150 cm x 141 cm.






















Aphrodite. Watercolor and graphite on paper, 150 cm x 126 cm.






















Demeter. Mixed media, watercolor and graphite on paper, 150 cm x 125 cm.

Etsy Spotlight: Ring Lust

Silver Shelf Mushroom Ring by Heron Adornment. I am just completely in love with this ring, the other stuff in her shop is super rad too.


















Quartz Knuckles Ring by GATHER JEWELRY. This is sold, which is such a heart break, but she has other really beautiful jewelry.























I'm All Ears-Black Kitten Ring by The Golden Plague. I'm obsessed with this ring and the other animal ears rings that she has.























Oak Wood Ring by Dollface DeVille who has other beautiful wood rings and crocheted hats and hair accessories.























Fancy Carousel Ring by We Wear. They have such unique and awesome rings.


















Moose Antler Ring by the brass menagerie. Check out their shop, there are many other really awesome rings.























Faux Buckle Statement Ring (Brass) by Brillance Found. They have the coolest rings and such a wide variety to chose from too, anything from arrows to airplanes.

Amazing Paper Cuts

The work of Danish artist Peter Callesen inspired me to make my own little paper sculptures. I was at a standstill with my installation for my thesis show in my last year of college and when I saw his tower of babel sculpture I knew I wanted to make a little paper village. And I've been making paper houses ever since.
See them at my website.



















Tall Tower of Babel, 2005

Here are some other enchanting works by him both big and small.


























































It's hard to believe that this is made of paper!

Elsita Mora is another very talented artist who makes paper cuts but that's not all. She also makes dolls and porcelain sculptures, jewelry and illustrations.























El Bosque de la Mente























Frida Kahlo Necklace, inspired by the self portraits of Frida Kahlo.

Just Kids, Patti Smith

I'm reading Patti Smith's new book Just Kids about her and Robert Mapplethorpe growing up, making art, (getting known) and being together in New York in the late 60's and early 70's. It's like reading a fable about 2 people long ago and far away in the magical castel of Hotel Chelsea and the mystical land of New York in the 60's.

Etsy Update: Treasured Relics

These are silver, brass and nickel relics, treasures, knick-knacks and votive offerings turned into jewelry.






















Sterling Silver Skeleton Key Necklace (non-functioning-for decorative purposes only). (Also purchased at Porta Portese, market in Rome).























Nickel Cow Ex-Voto Necklace, also a votive offering also purchased in Philadelphia.





















Brass Arm and Leg Ex-Voto Earrings. These are votive offerings that would be offered to saints or divinity after the miraculous healing of these body parts. (Purchased in Philadelphia).






















Sterling Silver Miniature Harp Necklace (purchased at Porta Portese, market in Rome).























Sterling Silver Perfume (or oil) Bottle. Really you can put whatever you want in it, or leave it empty. (Also purchased at Porta Portese, market in Rome).

You can find all of these at my etsy store il gatto selvatico.

Dolls and Soft Sculptures

I've always loved this Owl and Pussycat (2002) flip doll by Kiki Smith. I first saw it at the museum shop of the Fabric Workshop in Philadelphia. Silkscreen on fabric.














I made these soft sculptures in college. Fabric, felt, plastic, wood and wax.

















Here are some beautiful dolls and soft sculptures that are being sold on etsy.

These beautiful lavender scented ravens remind me of the Kiki Smith dolls a little bit. You can buy them from The Diggingest Girl. Printed Cotton, polyfill, lavender beads and hemp.

















I love these "feltidermy" felted faux taxidermy plushies by Girl Savage. This one is a jackalope. Wool felt, wood and polyester fiberfill.






















These Russian Nesting Doll inspired soft sculptures are called Nest and they are a limited edition of hand screen-printed soft sculptures by Beside Herself.
Here is the description of the dolls and the concept behind them:
This series is an exploration of traditions; those that are learned in a particular cultural context and those that are learned in the home. It is about our relationship to our traditions and how this relationship and the traditions themselves can change over time, particularly in the context of migration. This piece is about both the comfort and burden of traditions when we find ourselves in new settings.
These NEST sculptures consider how the process of nesting is an ongoing one. We find ways of nesting in new surroundings as these sculptures will in their new homes.

















I also love these strange and playful monster dolls by Ninon. Linen, cotton, buttons, yarn, polyfil, faux fur, velvet and fleece.















And last but not least, these pissy fishwives by Charming Rosie's Bazaar give me the biggest kick. I think they are so clever. Digitally printed cotton, wool and polyester filling. The artist who makes these is also a talented animator see her animation here.

I just got a commission to make another portrait of the chihuahua in the post a little further down, but this time as a sailor. So I thought I'd post two other dog portraits that I made for members of my husband's family for Christmas last year.


















This is Ivan, my father-in-law's boxer. I obviously gave this to him. Markers on paper, 9x6 in.


















This is Zippo as a puppy chasing butterflies. This was a gift for my husband's aunt. Watercolors and mixed media on paper, 40x50 cm.

Etsy Update: Maps

More map necklaces have been added to il gatto selvatico's etsy shop.


















Argentina













USA
















Italy


















Portugal

To order any of these visit the shop. To have a country necklace custom made go here.













I was at the Maxxi, Museum of Contemporary Art in Rome, which has just recently opened on Thursday and I found this intricately embroidered map of the world by Alighiero Boetti, an Italian artist. I of course loved it because of my current interest in embroidering maps.
This piece was part of an entire exhibition dedicated to maps called Mappe del Reale: Maps of the Real.

My First Giveaway

I'm giving away this beautiful USA Necklace. I put a lot of love and care and time into creating this and it's the best map necklace that I've made so far.
To enter the giveaway click on the link below and leave a comment there, just make sure to include your email address and your favorite item from my shop. A lucky winner will be chosen on Tuesday. Good Luck!
http://melissabxoxo.blogspot.com/2010/07/patriotic-necklace-giveaway.html














































































...And if you don't win but you fell in love you can custom order it or a map of another country by clicking here.

Moving Collages

These are two stop animations I made 3 years ago when I was in college. I describe them as "moving collages'' because I drew and painted and collaged the scene and the the characters and then made them move.

This one is called Cat Fight and in it the characters tear apart each other as well as their surroundings (the room) The audio is also a "collage" of three different songs. It's hard to read the speech bubbles so I've included the script below the video.

Script:
Phone: Ba-rrrrnnnnngggg!
Girl 1: I'll get it!
Girl 2: No I'LL get it. It's not for you anyway!
Girl 1: Excuse---
Girl 3: It's not for you either, nobody'd want to talk to your fat ass!
Phone: Ba-rrrrnnnngggg!
Girl 1: Excuse me! Who the hell do you sluts think you are?! I'm the prettist one anyway!
Girl 2 and 3: SLUTS!?!

This one is called The Lucky Bachelor, The Dandies and The Virgin Queen. It is a procession of characters starting off with a Roman Lady who is beckoning to a group of flying angel cats who come fluttering and playing their musical instruments behind her. Some of the other characters are Queen Elizabeth, Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, Hugh Hefner and his playmates, victorian ladies riding a moose and a cow. a zebra pulling a Tudor style house, a chain gang, and others. There are a couple of famous paintings, drawings by myself, magazine cutouts and more collaged into this magical procession.
Like Cat Fight the audio is also a mix of a couple of different songs.


To see more of my art videos go to http://www.youtube.com/user/ilgattoselvatico (There are some video montages and a funny 'ode to Dolly Parton'

To see more of my art go to http://penelopereichley.wordpress.com/

The "stage" of The Lucky Bachelor, The Dandies and The Virgin Queen was inspired by this mixed media diorama by Joseph Cornell (The mountains). However I'm inspired by all of his work!


















Joseph Cornell (American, 1903-1972). Untitled (Tilly Losch), ca. 1935–38. Box construction. 10 x 9 1/4 x 2 1/8 in. (25.4 x 23.5 x 5.4 cm)