365/2013 - Day 21

a few more things...

I gave the manikin guy a coat of metallic green paint (that changes color as you move around him).  I sort of like the colors below coming through the paint and I like how it looks like the surface is "leafed" somehow...but this is nowhere near done...I still don't even know what this guy is or if he will get more plaster cloth.

Later on I passed the "save it for later/drying area" and since this guy has been bugging me for a few days I decided to work on him today. (Here are two links to see how he started out: link one...link two.) I haven't been sure what exactly he needs done to him, so I started by experimenting with some color -- only I didn't gesso him first.  I have never tried to paint the plaster cloth without gesso and I wanted to see what would happen.  The alcohol inks (in spray bottles) were right by my chair so I tried them.  First the yellowish one, then a spritz or two of the dark green, then I was hooked on spritzing and I overdid the purpley ink and wrecked everything.

But there is still something "off" about him...he needs a better nose.

And then a little bit later I was looking at some of the repurposed canvases that are being turned into collages.  I think instead of always referring to them as the repurposed canvases I am going to call the series (and any future ones) "Emergent/See"s -- I know, I know...it is really corny but I kind of like it.  It is about what I see emerging through the layers and what I choose to focus on and then leaving the other background things I see for the viewer to find. 

Anyway...here is the one I am working on today.  This is actually a watercolor piece that I layered paper on and then decided I probably won't do this again because the wetting of the paper really warped and distorted the board underneath the watercolor paper.  

I have had trouble seeing things in this piece from the beginning.  I kept turning the board over and over from horizontal to vertical -- on each end -- then I saw them.  I had faint lines on the arms from before, but today I can really see the characters.

The main one seems to be some sort of panda-ish guy and he has on a hood with big ears and a little coat.  He is looking down and pointing one arm out.  I am not quite sure what the story is yet, though.  The guy behind him seems to be a fox-like or badger-like sort of guy and he looks like he may be offering some advice or perhaps listening to what the panda-ish guy is saying.  Still a long way to go on this one, too.

Then I thought I would give the cat-ish guy's nose a try.

Yep -- I like him a whole lot better now!  Maybe when I paint him, he should have a white face like this.  

And then I was back at my computer and thinking about stuff and I was thinking maybe this cat-ish guy is the king of cat-ish guys.  Maybe he needs a little crown.

Oh yeah...that might be just the ticket -- I know how much better I feel when I am wearing a crown.  But maybe his needs to be just a little bit smaller...

Yes, yes...he definitely needs the crown.  Look how proudly he stands with it.  I just hope I can plaster cloth something that little...and get it to sit on his head right.

2012/365 - Day 28

my collaborators arrived unannounced!

I came into the studio in need of something to work on and blog about. (I was reunited with television this afternoon and it was like I had never seen it before...sheesh.)

The body of this cat-ish creature only had a single layer of plaster cloth on it so I could still do pretty much anything to it. I could still build it up and shape it.


I knew I wanted to get rid of the sloping part of the plaque base that looked sort of like shoulders. I took some photos and tried to draw on them but it just wasn't working this time. I had to just try stuff on the creature.
















What was handy...those rags/paper towels. I kept folding more and more of the squares together until they were thick enough to even out the back. I cut them to fit the back of the creature.





















I masking taped the area.










I plaster cloth'd the area and built up the base of the neck a bit...but what else?


I rinsed off my hands in the plaster cloth water container and used a fresh paper rag to dry them...eureka! My guides/collaborators arrived without warning!











Suddenly I was flattening out the slightly elongated square of paper rag. Then I started to roll it up diagonally and then I folded it in half.














I took a strip of plaster cloth (I had ONE strip leftover that wasn't cut into a triangle shape...how odd) and got it wet, laid it on the table and rolled the semi wet paper rag into it. Then I got my hands really wet and smoothed out the plaster cloth. I put another larger piece of plaster cloth on in the same manner (it was a triangle, though) and took the hint to dip it into the plaster cloth water really quickly and then I kept smoothing and pulling...like pulling a handle out of clay.


I tapped the bottom flat.







I positioned it on the back of the creature's back and started to anchor it with plaster cloth.


















Then it "occurred" to me to curve it a little -- man -- it was just the right length!

I had to keep alternating between laying on anchoring plaster cloth triangles at the base and tiny plaster cloth strips around the curve. Then I added more triangles to the back to smooth out the lumps.

Wow -- that happened SO fast...I had to take the photos really quickly so that I would be able to see how it went together. (My poor camera is a plaster cloth mess.)




Oh. My. Gosh. I am in love with this guy!





































I just want to pick him up and cuddle him.














And now he is taking his place among the other guys on the drying rack again.