Stitches & Watercolor Art Series

'Fashion Favorites'... Nothing like exploring a new medium of watercolors and then combining them for a fresh approach with hand stitching. Hand-stitching is relaxing, and I've found the new watercolor medium to be meditative as well. 

Fashion Favorites Nineteen Nighties
Wood frame with double mats.
Frame service available.

Every year, I embark on a creative journey to try something new. This year, I stumbled upon Dr. Ph. Martin's Hydrus Watercolour through some inspiring reviews on YouTube. Intrigued, I ordered three sets of colors, ready to dive into a new artistic adventure. 

I bought both hot-press and cold-press watercolor paper, but before I started working on a piece of art, I took the time to paint a reference sample of each color, which gave me insight into how they slide across the watercolor paper and stain the surface. 

I was quickly falling in love with the transparency. Yet, I found it to be very concentrated, as they had said, and able to retain the original brilliance of the watercolor paper underneath the paint.

'Fashion Favourites Nineteen Nighties' is more than just a title. It's a nostalgic journey back to the late 1990s, when I would dance the night away in my wedge high heels and flared pants. The collection is a tribute to those carefree nights and the lovely bras I used to own, all captured in a painting. 

One day, I sat down in the 1990s and drew my favorite outfit in a sketch, thinking that one day I might like to reminisce and create a painting of the drawing, which is now 2017!

Hand-stitching into watercolor paper.

I began mixing traditional stitching into the artworks, but first I poke holes into the paper with a thumbtack before stitching, and it works out very well. Some of my stitches were incorporated into my signature using a variety of embroidery stitches, including the daisy stitch, which is one of my old-time favorites.

Fashion Favourites Nineteen Nighties
by Minaz Jantz
12" x 17.5" unframed
$400.00

Renter's Roses (Pastel, stitching, foil, watercolor)

'Renter's Roses & Playful Mind Success Tarot' also came from a sketch I made back in the late 1990s of my favorite coffee table, Sedona red rock with my mom's escargot shell sitting on top with a layout from a tarot deck which said to me be PLAYFUL MIND SUCCESS and so back then I did take the hint and did start to take my journey as an artist more seriously. I still own the blue vase and have a THING for all items made of glass. 

Renting in the 1990s, White Rock, B.C. I was fortunate to live there for 10 years, enjoying a great view from my little 100-year-old cottage by the sea on a small plot of land that featured two old rose bushes outside my window. Because I only casually cared for the roses, they were not always perfect, but I liked their scent, and still, they grew flowers despite the constant attack of aphids.

Hand Stitching with silk threads into watercolor paper.

'Renter's Roses' started with an old drawing from the 1990s and edited it to include the drapes and purple shag carpet that were seen in many rental homes long after they had long gone past their home-fashionable moments. 

Stages of creating multimedia:

• Watercolor was blocked into the shapes and layers, which created more of a dimensional appearance to the composition. 
• more texture, so I added oil pastel, then layers of chalk pastel over that layer. 
• gold dust mixed with acrylic medium to indicate the brassy details of the coffee table.
• needle and thread, and ran one line across the curtains.
• Embroider my signature into the far right upper corner.

'Renter's Roses & Mind Playful Success Tarot'
by Minaz Jantz
18.5" x 22" unframed
$745.00

Love is Sharing Cake (watercolor, pastel, collage, stitching)

'Love is Sharing Cake' is about my love of baking and, more importantly, sharing it with guests. Sometimes, I will surprise someone by bringing them fresh, homemade baking. Delightfully, I get to see their faces light up. Home baking is a rarity these days, as it requires time, and there is a lot of negative press about consuming these delights, but it has not stopped people from enjoying the indulgence of home baking.

Hand-stitching on the signature and spiral on the plate.
A card with handwritten words is also collaged with hand-stitching.

'Love is Sharing Cake' was fun to create, and I played with various mediums, including watercolor and oil pastel, on cold-press watercolor paper with a textured surface. I liked how the oil pastel skipped across the top, leaving more visual texture, which worked great for the cake's icing. I cut up an old birthday card from my mother-in-law, who has beautiful handwriting, and decided to also incorporate part of the card into my signature, which was hand-stitched with silk threads.

Love is Sharing Cake (watercolor, pastel, collage, stitching)

I'm thrilled to announce that all these artworks, including 'Love is Sharing Cake', will be available at the 'Follow the Yellow Balloons Open Studio Tours' on October 1, 2017. I'm excited to share these pieces with you, along with other handmade items, such as my Folk Art Pillows.

Life is great when one can burst out laughing and bring stitching to a fine art! Minaz