A birthday present for my son Victor

Have you heard of Disc Golf? If you have not, do not worry because this is really about the art piece I gave to my son Victor as a present for his birthday. I always thought of the fives and zeros birthdays as special ones, I do not know why.  If nothing else, the 25^th birthday is when the car insurance goes down (assuming you are a good driver….) Anyway, for his 25^th birthday, I decided to give him something different, not a store-bought present. This is why disc golf is part of this story.

I heard of this sport for the first time when Victor was in college. It became the focus of his attention, even more than his studies, I believe. There are many similarities between disc golf and traditional golf. Instead of shooting a ball with a club toward a hole in the grass, you throw a plastic disc (I don’t dare call it a frisbee) through the air toward a metal basket. Unlike golf courses which are usually an open green space, disc golf courses have a more natural look with trees left in place to serve as obstacles. The number of metal baskets can vary from 9 to 18, depending on the course. No such thing as driving the golf cart from one basket to the other. You have to walk!

Considering his passion for the sport, the choice for the artwork was clear:  a piece portraying him playing. I started the curating process by looking at his Facebook page and downloading the ones I liked best.  Two of them called my attention:

I liked photo one the best but I have not created any artwork with faces, so I decided to go for the photo 2. I thought it would be easier than the other photo. Hmmmm….  As I was analyzing the photo chosen in order to move forward with the process, I realized how difficult it would be to make such a small basket with fabric.  One solution was to make a 24 x 36 inches piece. This would increase the sizes of everything thus increasing the amount of time needed to complete. Time was not on my side, so I decided to crop some of the photo out, giving me a similar result. With the final photo ready, it was time to choose the fabrics and create one pattern to use as the map for placing each piece as well as a mirror to help me with the cutting.  

I spent many hours creating and recreating the trees on this piece.  I forgot to tell you, I also decided to put the leaves back on the trees. Many quilters make pieces that gives the idea of what the object and it works. Yes, I could have portrayed the trees by creating two or three pieces that put together look like trees but I cannot bring myself to do that.  These trees are composed by many pieces cut a certain size to give the right perspective.

The ground was another part that took several attempts because it is not flat.  The area where the basket is located is lower then where Victor is.  My first and second attempts were focused on color, not on the topography.  I had this fabric I really wanted to use so I kept trying to put pieces of it in with no good results. When I finally convince myself that it was not going to happen. I was able to move in the right direction.

“Creating” Victor was no different. I looked for a fabric that resemble the skin, white fabric with lines to be similar to the way socks are, I downloaded the brand logo on his cap and I even made a small “N” for the New Balance shoe.  You may have noticed that the foot he had on the ground does not show on the photo but I added to the art piece.  To this day, I am not happy with the way his shirt looks. It does not portray the folds well.  On the other hand, the basket is something to be proud of. 

I refine or learn new skills with each piece I create and this one taught me quite a bit.  I was so happy with his reaction to my gift.  It is something both of us will cherish for years to come.

If you ask me what the biggest obstacle is when creating these artworks, I would have to say ME! Sometimes I want a specific shade of blue for the sky and I keep searching until I find what I want. I drove 90 minutes to get the blue fabric for this piece.  To be fair to myself, fabric is not the easiest medium to work with at the level of detail I want for my artwork.  I have to be creative in ways that an artist working with paint may not need to be. I truly believe that the attention I put into the details is what sets my work apart.

I have not yet tackled faces but it is on my list and when I do, I might go back to the other photo and turn that into an art piece too.  I might keep that one.

Selene Paschoal