For this month's Art Club 'self portrait' theme, I knew straight away that I wanted to make an artwork using my beautiful handmade Aran knitted cardigan. I bought the cardigan when I was back in Scotland last Christmas from an amazing vintage store in Edinburgh, called Armstrongs (which I actually used to work at!).
The artwork is titled 'Self Portrait with Aran Cardigan' and is a limited edition lino print, of 15. The lino block measures 30 x 30 cm and was hand carved over a number of weeks. I started by taking some photos of myself wearing the cardigan, and then used these to draw from.
I ended up finding out some pretty cool things about Aran knitting - like there are stories attached to different stitches! Cool, hey! I think I will have to revisit some of the beautiful Aran patterns in future work.
The lino cutting took approximately 10 hours and was done is short sittings as it can become a bit sore on my hands, wrists and arms! I absolutely loved making this and all the tiny cutting. I hope you like it!
The print is for sale here on my Etsy Store....
www.etsy.com/au/shop/PigeonGillian
