Today I was working on my shoes for Frederike Maria Beer who was painted by Klimt in 1916. It’s a very complex painting with a lot of pattern and colour.
She’s wearing a hand-painted silk dress and a short fur coat – the coat is actually worn inside out because, apparently, Klimt loved the lining. Amazingly I found images on the internet of actual dress and the pattern design. I’m using my interpretation of the dress pattern on the shoe toe and that of the coat lining pattern on the heel. I decided to carve the pattern which has taken absolutely hours of very meticulous work and nearly driven me round the bend. On the side of the shoe I’m using the very sweet little flower motif that is on the carpet in the painting. I’ve carved the flower in plaster to make a pattern stamp. I have to repeat it all again (but creating the mirror images of the patterns) when I make the left shoe of the pair later this week. I’m hoping I’ll be able to do justice to the colours in the painting with velvet under-glazes and glazes.
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