365 Day 264

more monster tweaking

Okay. Remember this canvas that I am repurposing and working on in stages? It started out as three ghosts then turned into a monster and two ghosts.














And you no doubt know of the incredible illustrator/author Edward Gorey.































Well. I am in no way trying to suggest that I will ever get close to his incredible work, but -- heavily influenced by Edward Gorey -- I want to try and make a million little lines to give my monster some fur and then detail in the fur.


















I am so blown away by Edward Gorey's subtle changes in the density of the lines and how there is so much IN there.















That sky/background. That fur. Man oh manny man.









So, I am tweaking the monster's fur more today.














Right now I am just trying to get some feel of thicker fur.














And maybe a bit of definition in the middle with not so many lines.














I am already happier with the monster than when I first started playing with this canvas. And that is the main point of this whole exercise for me. I will keep at it and keep at it.

365 Day 133

small steps...

Okay, I have done pretty much nothing all day...again. I found myself in my studio thinking of a Donovan song and all of a sudden I was aware that it was like 10:30 at night and I hadn't made anything yet for the 365 Project. Gah!














I dug the CD out of the music closet, put it in the computer and started it. I looked around the studio for something, something, SOMEthing...what? Dunno...I can't do anything in an hour. Plaster cloth is too involved and I am not feeling it right now. Collage? No...couldn't finish.

Then I spied that three ghosts "painting"/canvas I have been working on in stages.

I was trying to put layer upon layer of color on the ghost in the middle and I wanted to try and scratch through the layers so you'd see different colors of fur/hair on the monster. I scratching it last week and was sorely disappointed. That works just fine with underglazes and clay...but apparently not with acrylic paint and canvas.


(Oh yeah -- at some point -- I'm not sure when -- it was revealed to me that the creature in the middle is not a ghost -- it's a monster...the other guys are ghosts.)

So then my mind started wandering again, but not wanting to let go of those monster fur ideas. Then I thought of the bear in the kitchen that I love so much. All those tiny little lines. Kinda Edward Gorey-ish in that it is only single lines that change direction and intensity, etc. I obviously do not have the technical words for the style(s). Whatever.
















































I decided to give it a go. Just start it. Put a layer of little lines on. And I can always paint over it if I really hate it.











































Of course, it looks nothing at all like the beloved bear or like Edward Gorey drawings...that is okay -- they are the *inspiration*, this is mine. I think I am beginning to like it.