What is the perfect girl's weekend away? In my book a plane trip down to the city of Melbourne, not only to take in all that Melbourne has to offer but to experience the incredible talents of a world visionary - designer Jean Paul Gaultier! The trip was an early birthday present from my gorgeous sister, who lives in Sydney. Thanks Sis!!
Melbourne is Australia's second largest city. It has a vibrant arts community and it renowned for its fine restaurants, great coffee, laneway cafes and bars, and gives a warm and friendly reception to visitors. It has an excellent cable tram network which is a great way to move around the city, making it easy to get to theatres, restaurants, shopping, places of interest and major venues.
The National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) was 'home' for a few months to 'The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk' exhibition, on its world tour. Wow! Just Wow!! Is the only way I can describe the exhibition. My sister and I had an amazing time; we were transfixed by the cool but freaky talking mannequins whose eyes and mouths moved to show off Jean Paul's creations, dozens of highly-detailed garments spanning his 40 year career. We were captivated not only by his vision and creativity, but also his ability to push boundaries through his fashion and entrepreneurial ventures.
Fired up from the exhibition, I have created a double page spread in my art journal. I loved the imagery on the Jean Paul Gaultier Exhibition promotional material of Kylie Minogue and wanted to incorporate this into the spread. I found a piece of plastic table runner that resembled lace which I used like a stencil. An old favourite iridescent medium gave the right amount of interest and pearlescence to the top to the page. Mixing it with blue along with a handmade stencil give those signature 'Jean Paul Gaultier' stripes!
For the opposite page, I used tongue-in-cheek hand cut images that hopefully compliment the designer's flare. Paint splatters and glitter finish off the page.
Until next time, Happy Creating!
