2012/365 - Day 35

what a thrill!

Ruth and I just went to see the 6th Annual Members Exhibition at the Northville Art House. What a thrill to see the cat-creature under a spotlight at the top of the stairs!

Here are some self-indulgent photos of Chime Cat and the cat-creature:






















She is under a spotlight...it is a little hard to photograph her but she looks great in person!















































This will be Chime Cat's final scheduled public appearance...I priced him high enough to bring him home again. I think he needs to stay with me.







































There are nearly 70 artists showing fabulous work -- such a marvelous variety! Here is a link to see some of the other great stuff (but it really just scratches the surface). And there was record-breaking attendance for the show last night, too!

The 6th Annual Members Exhibition runs through February 18th at the Northville Art House.
Regular hours are: Wednesday - Saturday from 1:00 - 5:00 p.m. Call (248) 344-0497 for more information.

2012/365 - Day 30 -- part two

photos from the construction stages

Here are some photos of the cat-creature changing during the construction process.






Originally I was thinking the head, hands and tail would be a blue color, with the hands being covered by gloves and a sort of glove-like garment on the tail.








And then things started going downhill with the colors and paint. The blue became way too intense with the addition of a glaze.










I was SO stuck on the choosing the colors part. I didn't know what I wanted to do with the clothes.

Then I tried out some different colors of Unryu papers.















I decided that since I was also showing Chime Cat (whose full title is "Chime Cat Visits Cloud City), I wanted to tie the two pieces together thematically somehow.

Then it occurred to me that the cat-creature could be a resident of Cloud City. It made a little bit of sense that perhaps the cat-creature's face could be cloudy and so could her skirt. She needed the gloves and tail cover because it is cold in Cloud City.







Then -- after the first layer of paper -- where the blue was overlapping -- it seemed like I could see things emerging. Sort of like making shapes from the clouds.

I started to darken the shapes I was seeing...then I realized you'd have to be across the room to notice them...you couldn't really see them close up...so that idea got scrapped, but I was stuck with the images showing through.

I figured maybe I could layer paint on and have it look like clouds. After playing around with that a bit I figured out it would be better to layer paper on as clouds and the inclusions in the paper would add to the texture of the clouds.




So my sister and I made a quick trip out to Hollander's in Ann Arbor for some white Unryu paper. It just happened that a new paper was being priced and put out. It was laying on the counter when we got to the register.

I thought wow -- I could (try to) make "clothes" on the cat-creature...but I don't sew and I am not a pattern maker.

I did what I could and it started to come together.











Oooh that paper is just gorgeous!



















The front and back of the top seemed to go pretty well.














The arms were another story all together. But I kept working with the paper and got to know it better and found ways to make it work.

















One night it was just a PAR-TAY in the studio!

















I was still going with the "cloudy" theme.

















Still too "scared" to try the white paper on top of the blue.

















And I was still going with the idea of the gloves and tail garment.














This is the cat-creature laying on the drying rack so that I could work on it.

Oh man...this is where I made the horrible, no turning back mess. And yes, I really do hate to paint. And the paint was getting on the paper and I was really beginning to question whether I would finish before the deadline.





Then the guides arrived and I started tearing the white paper into 19 million little tiny pieces and each one had to be glued and layered to get rid of those horrible colors on the tail. This process took days.














But at one point I started thinking that maybe the tail was also a cloud and that the tail and the clouds on the skirt could blend together.


















And I started liking that you could still see a little bit of blue and yellow in the tail through the paper.














And then I re-gesso'd the face and hands and went with yellow.

I took a photo of the yellow face and played with it in my photo program trying to come up with something, ANYthing.

I stumbled onto something I liked and I asked if any of my painter friends could maybe coach me on how to achieve the look I was going for.







I tried mixing a lighter shade of yellow.

This was in preparation for Peggy to come over and give me a hand.

I showed Peggy the print out of what I wanted and she mixed the colors for me and then figured out how to get the effect and then walked me through applying the paint. Leann was also here for support and encouragement...and a little later that morning Joan and Alex dropped by, too.




While Peggy and Leann were here I painted the face and was very happy with it. Later I did the eyes and ears on my own.

I was going for a different color of green but the lighter shade wouldn't accept the darker second shade and I had to start over. By accident this color got mixed onto the eyes as I was painting and I really love the color. I will never be able to repeat it, but I love it.



It took all night (and quite a bit of sedation) for me to get up the nerve to mark the make up lines and then finish them.


But I think the overall look was achieved.

I was going for a chalkware kind of look with Julie Driscoll-inspired eye make up.









And here are the "glamor shots" from the photo session in the living room. I didn't count on the challenge of taking uncluttered photos of such a tall piece. When I win the lottery I may invest in backdrops and lights...but for now this will do.






That light blue on the cheeks is "interference blue" -- it sort of appears as you walk around the cat-creature and it catches the light.

A number of the clouds on the skirt and tail also have the interference blue added.















































































I spent two days spraying archival varnish on the piece and let it sit for an additional two days (for the aroma of the varnish to dissipate a bit). That is why I chose the last day for my drop off day. Leann helped me transport the two pieces to the Art House and Joan helped Leann carry the pieces up the stairs to the upper gallery.

I am very excited to be a part of the 6th Annual Member Exhibition at the Northville Art House -- and to have Chime Cat on the postcard for the show!

2012/365 - Day 30

delivery day!!!

Today was the day I chose to drop off my two pieces for the 6th Annual Member Exhibition at the Northville Art House.



Here is the cat-creature all wrapped up and ready to go. Her tail is marked so that we didn't set her down on it in transit.


















Chime Cat looks smaller when he is wrapped in black plastic bags and sitting inside a Rubbermaid bin on the dining room table.














MANY, many thanks to my friend Leann Meixner for helping me get my guys to the Art House!!!

And many, many thanks to Leann and Joan Potter Thomas for carrying the two pieces up the stairs to the gallery.

And we ran into Peggy Kerwan as she was dropping her pieces off, too!









And there they are waiting with all of the other wonderful art for placement in a day or two.



Chime Cat Visits Cloud City
and
Cloud City Cat-Creature


I will do a follow up blog post later tonight showing the cat-creature's construction/painting photos.

2012/365 - Day 25

hooray for the cavalry!

I had no choice -- the delivery deadline is forcing me to step waaaaaaaaaay outside of my comfort zone -- so I called in the cavalry. Thank goodness they like me.

The time had come to paint the cat-creature's face, head and hands. Peggy and Leann came over this morning to coach me, show me, walk me through it, cheer me on, and finally, make me do it on my own.







I showed Peggy what I had in mind...the colors and how I wanted the face to look. Peggy mixed the color for me and figured out how to apply the paint, then showed me how to blend the colors directly onto the piece. I am very happy with the results. I still need to touch up the pink in the ears and put the eyes on.

This is the only photo I am showing of what we did. This is where Peggy tried out the colors.









And a bit later on Joan and Alex dropped by!











UPDATE:
Since the first draft of this blog post (above) I have started to paint the eyes. The second shade of green that I wanted to use would not stay on...it just kept lifting of with each dab and/or pull of the brush -- I was forced to go with a different color -- so I went with a whole other kind of paint (my old standby, Lumiere) and I started to make the eyes metallic olive green. But I stood back a little and decided the eyes would be way too dark with that color. Gah -- I ended up mixing and blending my own new color (that I will never be able to repeat in a million years) but I reeeeeally really like how it turned out.

I need to let that dry before going any farther, but I put in little marks where the other eye embellishments will go. This cat is turning into Xanny Jr.

2012/365 - Day 24

a whole lot of work, but no photos

I am spending several upon several very-achy-afterwards hours working on the cat-creature today. The delivery day looms all too near.

I think I came up with a solution for the finish on the tail today.

Miss Peggy is coming over in the morning to coach me with the painting of the face. I know exactly how I want it to look (the hands, too) I just don't know how to get there.

So...no photos today...not even any teasers or sneak peeks.

2012/365 - Day 22 part 2

checking on the paper


The next few layers of paper went very well...as did work on another section.

However, I really messed up the face. Man...this must be a sign to wait until tomorrow.


It is seriously messed up.

2012/365 - Day 22

blogging about it without revealing too much

Man -- I just spent a couple of hours (hopefully) solving the dilemma of the bottom of the base of the cat-creature. I feel okay with blogging about this (even though I said I wasn't going to show more until I deliver it) because it doesn't really reveal much of what is going on elsewhere.

When I was building the base part with the plaster cloth triangles and strips I wanted to keep the very bottom (that sits on the floor) as even as possible so that the cat-creature wouldn't be tippy.

But now it has come time to figure out how to finish off the bottom and work it into the base. I still need to keep it as even as possible.

Back to those remaining Trader Joe's bags that I have been using on the Working Dog. I dug out the jar of Yes! glue and cut little pieces where there were already deep creases in the bags and glued them to the bottom of the base. Man -- that YES! glue is seriously sticky...it is also a very old jar. Maybe the glue isn't supposed to be that thick.



I think the idea is a basically good fix because the bags are kind of thick. But that was also the problem with this fix...the bags weren't very cooperative because they weren't getting very wet. The YES! glue is incredibly thick and gooey, but not really wet. I had to change my vinyl gloves four times because they got so icked up...LOL.

So I was looking at the completed ring of paper bag pieces and the Universe/my collaborators stepped in. I got the idea suddenly to use triangles of decorative paper and matte medium. It is wet and the paper will soak up the liquid and it goes with what else I've been doing. YAY.


Well...it seems to be working (so far). I think it will need another layer but right now I need to walk away from it.

It also appears that this was a really good fix for areas within the interior with the chicken wire where the plaster cloth didn't want to stay. Another YAY!

I will check back in later tonight.

2012/365 - Day 17

hmmm...

I just came home from a lovely meet up with Juana and Renee. One of the things we talked about is my dread of painting, etc. Renee said sometimes when you work on something you need to leave it for a little while and then you can see it another way.

That's what kind of what is going on with the body/base of the cat-creature. I was just now sitting here at the computer and from here, this was the view.

And it gave me an idea...









And this is what I saw.

I have been struggling with this and not knowing if I liked what I was doing with it...maybe seeing this will give me a new take on things?

The drop off days are quickly approaching.






And I know I said no more process photos of the cat-creature until it was dropped off, but I couldn't help this one. But it's not like I am showing the whole thing...and this may (or may not) remain.

2012/365 - Day 14

feeling a bit overwhelmed

When I was painting Chime Cat I had a lot of help relaxing...tonight it sure feels like that may have been the only way I was going to get through it...and I may need to resort to that method for the cat-creature. I am feeling (quite) a bit overwhelmed.

I wasn't able to locate the glaze colors I was hoping for so I had to mix it myself. It looks to be the right consistency (compared to the other colored glaze I have) and it is acting like that other colored glaze, but I just don't know. I think I am probably overthinking things and just choking at too many possibilities and choices.

I am going to leave the small areas I worked on alone for the rest of the night and look at them fresh tomorrow. I kinda think I have made things too complicated for myself (at least at this point in my learning process with paint) and I need to just calm down and make things as simple as possible.

I also tried out tiny sections of the other idea I had for the body/base of the cat-creature. The jury is still out on that, too.


BUT --

Today I had a really great time with Ruth. She took me out to lunch for my day-after-my-birthday day and we also went to an art supply store and I used a lot of that gift card my sister gave me.

I got a bunch of paint, a large bottle of acrylic glazing liquid, a reeeeeeeeeally nice angle brush, and a carving block that I have never seen/tried before.








I also got twenty sheets of a mid-range handmade paper in several different colors.










I am testing out the idea of papering the base/body...not sure if I will do it or not.


















I tried out the paint and glaze on a section of the Studio Snake.

This is the plain paint.








This is the paint with the glaze over it and next to it is just the glaze.

















This is the Studio Snake section with the cat-creature's hand to show the difference. I dunno...













This is a small section of the cat-creature's face with just the glaze on it. Again, I dunno...










I also think I will continue to photograph it in its various stages, but these will be the last process photos of the cat-creature I post in the blog until after I complete it and deliver it to the Members Show at the Northville Art House at the end of the month...mostly because I want it to be a surprise.