I’ve recently discovered a British artist whose work has given me fascinating insights into several aspects of design. His name is Tom Phillips, and this is his website: http://www.tomphillips.co.uk. Recently I’ve been working on several different things that have been directly or indirectly inspired by him, and I feel as if I've entered a new and exciting area of art
Like him, I’ve always loved the idea of incorporating text and words in design, so I was intrigued by some of his pieces which do the same thing. This is one of his works which adorns the cover of the menu of The Ivy (a very upmarket London restaurant). If you know that it’s for The Ivy you can just about make out the name, but the text is mostly there as design, and it's not really meant to be read as text
Tom Phillip's menu cover for The Ivy restaurant
Of course, when you use text in a design, even if you can’t read it clearly it should be something that’s worth spending time and effort on, and it took me a while to think of something suitable to try myself. But I’ve always loved William Blake’s poem “The Tyger”, and it has such a strong visual presence that it seemed a natural to translate into design. Here’s the full text of the poem: The Tyger, and here's my version
The Tyger takes the central place in the design, and the rest of the text forms the background. You can’t read the text very clearly, but that doesn’t worry me, because as in Phillip’s Ivy work the text is a decorative element, not a script to be read
The Tyger
This was a technical nightmare to stitch out. First I had to stitch an outline of the main shapes onto the background fabric, and then paint the red and yellow background. Then the tyger was appliqueed into the centre. But the tyger plus the frame of words was far too big even for my largest frame, so the frame of words had to be digitised in several different parts and then “pieced” onto the figure of the tyger – that is, I stitched one part, then moved the fabric in the hoop, stitched a second part and so on. I’m not 100% sure about it but it sort of works, and at least it’s nice and bright, and cheers me up in this wet winter weather
I love how it turned out! The color choices are perfect and make the text more subliminal.
Great multi-hooping project, too! Those are pretty darned hard, even when they’re simple, and this one is not.
Stunning, evocative–are we all not fiercely marching through life (the best we can!) while the words, motivations and meanings swirl around us. And drawing from William Blake–what could be more profound. I LOVE this.
Every time I tried multi hooping the designs never matched up. I am envious of the skills you demonstrated in stitching out your stunning, beyond awesome design. Your tiger illustrates the “fearsome symmetry” of the tiger in Blake’s poem.
Mia, you never cease to amaze me with your creativity.
Love this design.
Spanky.
Just so inspiring and really showcases, although I almost dislike that word, your amazing talents. It’s a masterpiece!
As always you us beautiful art in it’s truest sense. I am so glad I happened on your blog, not just for the free designs, but for the exposure to beauty and creativity. Thank You
I’m imagining seeing this in person because it is so striking on my laptop screen. Wow! Thank you for the link and education and sharing your mind.
What a wonderful design for one of my favorite poems. Lovely!
Your Tyger puts all of the other word art I’ve seen to shame. I love it. If you take the time to read it you can, but why not just enjoy the over all effect. And your colors make it the entire design pop. Thank you for sharing.
I love how it turned out. (It is one of my favorite poems, too, along with The World is Too Much With Us — oldies but still true.) Great job, Mia! Dale Rollerson of Perth, AU, does interesting things with text, too. Now to go look at Tom Philllips’ work.
Mia, WOW! So beautiful!You inspire me with your creativity. Thank you so much. Deena
Absolutely beautiful! You just keep getting better and better and continue to inspire me to push myself. I know this one had to take some time but well worth it.