Work in Progress x2

I don't know about you, but I always seem to have a handful of projects on the go at any one time. I'm not necessarily working on them all at once; some are in the 'pondering basket'. In any case, thought I'd post two of my current WiPs.

Whenever I make something it's always the fabric that inspires me, and the shape comes later. First, I'll layer however many different ones all over the dining table and rearrange until I find the combination I like. Then, I'll play with shapes, looking at how the fabric falls etc., and then I just cut. (I'm not really a pattern kind of girl!) I love juxtaposing different textures. I've made a lot of mistakes but have learned something new with each piece. It's like the sewing equivalent of "your eyes are bigger than your stomach!" I guess.

So, current eye-full is below. I love this ivory + black floral stripe and the way the stripes play with the stripe-weave of the jersey. I'm still playing with the style, but I think I like it...

The painting below is another WiP... I've been pondering this one for a while now. The idea for it came from a photo (I think) in the Weekend Australian, must have been last year now. I was so struck by the way the North Korean soldier posed – that fashiony quasi-sexual jaunt of the hip...? I guess it was my preconception that these women have a very limited exposure (if any?) to contemporary posturing in magazines and on TV etc. I'd always supposed we learn these movements and gestures by conscious or unconscious mimicry, and here was this woman from what is effectively a 'closed' society striking a pose. 

Anyway, I wanted to represent this somehow on canvas. Originally, my intention was to simply have her stark outline on a shiny silver background to portray the contradictions between the utilitarian and the glam of her pose.... but it just doesn't work. I'm thinking now of making it more of a collage in her uniform and going the full glam with it. Or am I just going from one extreme to the other... What do you think?