Fifties Fashion Tribute

copyright A. Janet Burggraf Bishop

Drawings by my mother, 

when she was in high school.

Pen and ink on paper,

with crayons or colored pencils.

Another post of my mom's

drawings is shown at right

in Popular Posts sidebar:

"Fifties Fashion."

 

 Drawn from magazines or

dress patterns.

Click on any image to enlarge.

You can see the quality of the

lines. She used a pen nib

dipped in India ink.

Even in the fifties, it appears

that the models were extremely thin.

My mom always supported my desire

to make art.  I drew paper dolls

and 'girls' when I was growing up too.

Thanks Mom!

Inspirations for Art Journaling

Inspiration for these journal pages came

from a fashion magazine, the phrase

"pear-shaped figure," and an affection for

paper dolls and interesting quotes.

I couldn't resist putting the pear-shaped

body beneath the fashion-ad inspired head,

when in the glossy magazines, they

are usually pencil-thin!

The woman's figure was painted in

watercolor on watercolor paper, then cut

out and glued onto the page.

A watercolor background was

shaded with soft pastels after

adding the text in Sharpie marker

and mauve gel pen.

The pose of the figure is not ballet...

I have been in physical therapy for a

frozen shoulder, and this is a

painful reminder of the stretches I

must do to get back my mobility!

Again, a page motivated by a fashion magazine.

I find the graphics, layouts and photography

quite inspiring, though the clothes are 

often just weird.  The turban is inspired

by African styles, and the flowers are

inspired by American folk-art designs.

If you've ever looked at Pennsylvania

Dutch designs or early American

birth and marriage certificates, 

they can provide a wealth of ideas for

art journals and decoration.

French Fashion Exhaustion

Doodle/drawing from an old sketchbook, 2007. (For a larger view, click on the image.) Phrases were lifted from a Vogue magazine, and sketches drawn from the same magazine.Includes ball point pen, purple permanent marker and watercolors. This sketchbook is square, so I wasn't able to get all of the image on the scanner. You can't see all of "intensecolors express who you are" and the phrase "Extremely Cultured." You can see that some of the women's heads were drawn on lined notebook paper, then torn out and collaged into my sketchbook. Not exactly "high art" but it still makes me smile for some reason! Hope you enjoy it...

Fifties Fashion

circa 1950, copyright A. Janet Burggraf BishopPen and India ink, colored pencil on typing paperFashion drawings done by my mother.She is not sure how old she was when she did these,probably a freshman or sophomore in high school.Apparently I inherited some artistic genesfrom her. I remember that she oftendoodled eyes and lips when she talked on the phone...not faces, just the face parts!

My mother's drawing is above, my art journal drawing at the bottom. Mom's is in India ink and colored pencil, mine is in ballpoint pen. She drew these models from magazines and clothing patterns.I attempted to draw the girl in the sweater on my art journal page...the profile is not quite right in my opinion.A. Janet Burggraf Bishop, 1950 Dianne Bishop Carey, 2009