The first image is a photo of the first Louvin Brothers portrait I did in leather. I work with leather inlay, overlay, and stitching; there’s no paint. Each color is a separate piece of leather, and smaller details/light and shadow are done with stitching. The portrait is 8×10″ and it was my very first attempt to try and do faces in my medium. I began to feel I’d succeeded when I was stitching the piece and it seemed that their eyes were following me. Eyes in this medium are really difficult so it was both creepy and reassuring.
The composite image shows the smaller Ira and Charlie faces on the shoes that I make. I’ve never been very happy with those and I question if I should continue doing the smaller faces or not. Each head is about the size of a nickel. I can’t make my stitch length proportionally smaller and there’s only so much detail I can add on something that size, so I’m never quite happy with them. Sometimes I reassure myself that it’s like caricature and there’s no expectation of photographic realism, other times I tell myself that I’m a sucky artist and they look awful. Feedback on this conundrum would be appreciated.
The reason I like putting Ira and Charlie’s faces on the “Satan Is Real” shoes is because it adds context. When I wear the shoes in Nashville people want to talk to me about music and the Louvin Brothers, which I love! I call them my “Making Friends” shoes because if you recognize the album title and the Louvin Brothers I want to be your friend. But when I wear the shoes in the midwest people want to talk to me about religion. (Much sigh) It’s easier to make it an opportunity to educate them about the Louvin Brothers and their music when the faces are on the shoes.
Lisa Sorrell, cowboy boot maker 