I began painting clothes as a form of rebellion and because I saw a great need for individuality. We rely on trends and micro trends to tell us how to dress the same. Trends rotate often causing clothes to be thrown away and replaced just as rapidly, leading to fast fashion brands cutting down on the quality of their products as well as not giving employees good working conditions. Also, in our current social climate the government seems to continually try to silence the masses opinions if they do not agree with their agenda, such as Palestine, immigration and banning books. While I have never been the most talkative person in a room, I hold my opinions very highly and I am typically not afraid to share them.
When starting my process the first thing I do is get my materials. I thrift whatever clothing I’m looking for, typically denim items because they are the most versatile. Afterwards if the product is for commission I begin sketching out ideas to communicate with my customer, I prefer to design in an actual sketchbook over working digitally. Once a final design is agreed upon, I begin painting directly on the clothing item using a mix of acrylic paint and fabric medium. Depending on the design it could take anywhere between a few hours or a few weeks. If my design is a free hand one to go directly on my website I skip the planning portion of sketching ideas and go straight into painting.
Although I originally started painting nature based images, I have become more interested in finding new ways to express my views, including politics. My most popular clothing item is a white tank top with a medical diagram of a uterus, the words painted around the uterus are “no uterus no opinion”. I hope to create more work to depict issues such as immigration and books being banned all over the country.
What separates my brand from others is that no design will ever be repeated. All of my work is either designed for a specific person or just simply is painted with a single concept in mind. Although images such as plant species may be reused, my free hand work is not planned heavily for the reason of not wanting to be duplicated. That’s the beauty of my brand, it ties both the ideas of capturing things such as plants just because they’re beautiful and deserve to be appreciated and the want to speak out opinions all based on what I or my customer wishes. Either way, no one has to conform to trends or have a lack of choices.
Rielle 