Wearable artwork

I have a penchant for art history, and many of those influences can be found in my bags. The most striking example is probably my needle felted version of Edvard Munch’s The Scream, which took me many, many hours and ended up looking stunning on a bright red canvas bag, custom-made to the proud new owner’s requests.

The finished piece took at least 12 hours

I love how the red canvas frames the design

It's a big bag! There are pockets inside too

I loved the finished result and I’m sure I’ll make similar needle felted scenes in the future, maybe a Monet Water Lily Pond or a Van Gogh Starry Night style picture. The only drawback is that too much needle felting hurts my shoulder so I have to ration the amount of time I spend per week on a project.

A far easier to make artist inspired bag was my own Frida Kahlo bag. A friend bought me a Frida themed cushion for my birthday with the express intention that I made myself a bag with it, so I did! The image itself wasn’t a gaudy modern interpretation (and I’ve seen some really shitty ‘Frida homages’ in recent years…), but instead a photograph taken of Kahlo and used on a Vogue cover in the 1930s. Simple but effective.

A bit smaller than the Scream bag, this is my go-to library bag 

A less obviously inspired bag incorporated tiny needle felted lilies, in an art nouveau style. Inspired by the lilies of Georgia O’Keeffe, and the swirling style of Alphonse Mucha, the central design is less overtly influenced than the Scream bag, but the impact of art history is still there.

The tiny flowers took a few hours to complete 

 All blog content and photos are Copyright of Charisse Sayers Proofreader & Copywriter www.charisse-sayers.com I welcome all feedback and would love to know your thoughts so please get in touch, comment, share, like and generally get involved – you can also find me on Etsy at ‘Inside Out Oatcakes’, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram!