This piece, though sold and gone, is without a doubt, one of my favorites. I miss Marilyn. The title "Cursum Perficio" was the name of her home in Hollywood, as I recall. (the research I did at the time is mingled with the dust bunnies of my grey matter...) I broke barriers with the construction of this piece. There were portions of the hair that were my actual hair--saved from going short after years of letting it grow out-- I had wefted and then gently pulled through the fabric. The front of the dress has, ummmm, *breasts*---i.e. padding to give it dimension. I remember showing this at quilt guild and the lady helping to show it all of a sudden blurts out, "Oh my God! She has BOOBS!"
Well, she did... ;) The face is fabric I very lightly printed, then took Prismacolor pencils and totally redrew the portrait. It was so delicate in color, but it needed the punch of the lipstick to make it work with the monochrome fabrics surrounding. I used small images from when she was *Norma Jean* (at the beginning of her modeling career) and ironed them on to silk organza, then used a blank film strip image to frame each out. They had the slick look and feel of a piece of 35 mm film.
You really need to click on the image to see all the detail. It is subtle, subtle.
But of course Marilyn isn't. She's dimensional and sexual and ready to step out and sigh and wink and giggle. That was what I wanted.
And do you for one minute think this quilt won anything?
Nada.
Nope, the one's people love/buy are NEVER the ones the judges choose.
Which is a lesson to all:
Make art your heart loves, that you are passionate about and that you can fall in love with again later, long after it is gone. Otherwise, you're just fooling yourself and selling out to people you don't know and will never see again.
Making art means building backbone and a tough skin, but when it works, it is so very much worth it!
