My next portrait subject was someone I was always hearing about and seeing photos of. She has chartreuse and black hair and wears big baggy clothes. I finally took the deep dive to learn more about her and I was blown away by her talent - plus I just love her “story”. She was homeschooled and tours with her brother! She and her brother uploaded one her songs onto a music platform and that’s how she was ‘discovered’. Just love the whole thing. It is none other than Billie Eilish! Oh and did I mention she is 19???? Sheesh…..smarter and more savvy than I could have ever dreamed of being!
This was so much fun to create. I originally made her on a background fabric of unbleached muslin but her skin and jacket were so pale I painted the background with watercolor. I fretted over the color choice but in the end decided on a splotchy green and I am happy with the final result. I had also really intended to load up the background with a variety of green glass beads but ended up with a “less is more” thing. More felt too distracting from the embroidery since there was already jewelry.
A few green sparkly beads were the perfect finishing touch.
Her hair was one of my favorite parts to sew. The bright green and black was just so exquisite paired with her puffy, off-white Chanel jacket and jewelry. When she got discovered she paired up with Chanel and Gucci for some really cool fashion choices! I love unique collaborations like these.
Her eyes were a really great shade of cool blue which really stand out with her black hair. I loved creating her earrings, as well. They were gold and dangly with diamonds in them. I used bronze and metallic embroidery thread to recreate them.
Her puffy jacket was created out of french knots.
After I completed the embroidery, I added the watercolor paint. I knew there would be a chance that the paint would bleed into the light colored french knots so I went really slow. It did bleed and turned a lot of the knots green so I just re-did the areas that turned green by adding more french knots over the top. It was kind of a cool experiment because I learned a lot. First off, painting before embroidery is a better idea going forward. Another thing I learned was that it only bled into the light colors, not the the darker ones so that was kind of interesting. Lastly, I would love to experiment with painting around light colored embroidery and organically letting the paint bleed into the stitches. All in all, I am glad I risked it!
If you do get a chance to give her a listen, she really has such a phenomenal voice. I found a great interview on youtube between Howard Stern, Billie Eilish, and her brother. It’s a great listen and she sings an acoustic version of one of her songs that made every one of my hairs stand on end!
Well thanks for following my portrait adventures!
Still reeling from this week’s shocking shooting in Boulder. When I lived in Boulder from 2005-2013 that was my local grocery store and I shopped there regularly. I was at a different King Soopers at the exact time of the shooting about 15 miles or so from that one. Gave my family a bit of a scare before they realized I was not at the store where the shooting was happening. I can’t stop pouring over the story and all it’s details. Thinking about all those innocent lives being devastated and feeling just heartbroken.
Hoping you are all staying safe and balanced out there! These are crazy scary times we are living in. Wishing all the best for you and your families