2012/365 - Day 50

working on the ghosts and monster piece again

I realized this morning that -- duh -- I don't have to only make something out of plaster cloth for the upcoming shows I want to submit things to. Sheesh.


Remember this? The ghosts and monster?


This is how it looked this morning, "before".




The colors are a bit off with this lighting.






Here is the monster "after" a little more work this morning.



Then I moved onto ghost number one.






I have never really cared for the way ghost number one looked...but I wasn't having much luck with the various ways I'd been altering him.

Today I decided to go at him from a different angle and use pink unyru paper to see what that would do in layers.

In this photo I have put on gel medium with my gloved fingers and added a few torn pieces of the paper and then put more gel medium on top. I wanted to get the paper very wet so it would still be see through.

It is difficult for the camera to pick up the textures and the color (apparently) so I am settling for showing the difference in how the paper looks when it is going down...wet on the left and not down yet/dry on the right.

I think the inclusions in the paper will add to the ghosty look.

These two photos are how it looked as I was working...across the canvas, not up and down.






There...the camera is still not really sure what to focus on, but you can see the colors in the very wet paper layers.


In this photo I had turned the canvas and was trying to smooth out the gel medium a little.










The rest of these photos are just progress-while-drying shots.


ghost number one















ghost number two...didn't do anything to him today

















monster















This is a shot of the entire canvas as it looks hanging on the wall. Ghost number one is still very wet.

I'm not done with this yet.

2012/365 - Day 3

back to the monster and two ghosts painting

I have been thinking about this ever-changing painting lately. I haven't liked that ghost on the left for some time now. I wasn't sure how to alter him.












I like that you can see through him, but I don't like those spots and the colors are bothering me.

That metallic turquoise is very very shiny.














I remembered I have some glaze. I thought I'd give that a try.















I hope it dries eventually...LOL.

I like him more than I did, but I am still not happy with him.

This is a start, though.









Oh -- and no Animal People collages today.

365 Day 205

the story continues...

Okay. I was planning on doing a third large plaster cloth guy today but (thankfully) I couldn't find the smaller yellow ball I was looking for...it is in my studio somewhere. It actually is a good thing that I can't locate that ball because my back is reeeeeeeeeeeally hurting today. I guess I put myself into some bad positions while I was working on the other two plaster cloth guys and I am paying for it today.

So. Instead I will show the progress on the painting that I first started working on back on Day 39. Another layer was added on Day 41. Here is Day 133...this is the last layer I blogged about that I can find. I know I've worked on it between 41 and 133 but I must not have labeled it the same way.

Anyway. Here is the current version of the piece. The guy in the middle is definitely a monster now.








This is how he looked just prior to working on him.














Ooh...a nose and mouth. I rarely draw a nose. I like it a lot.















I have been viewing the stars as eyes up until now.

Then as I looked more closely I could see what looked like closed eyes.















So I inked them in.

To me it looks like he is either dreaming the two other guys in the painting or he is closing his eyes so he doesn't have to see them...not sure which it is yet.













I like the story line of both ideas.


And so the story continues...still not done yet.

365 Day 145

early morning energy

We are adopting a new kitten today! I can't go get him until later this afternoon and this morning I have been all revved up so I worked on the monster/ghost canvas...darkening and adding lines to it.

I can barely think to type I am so excited.

Update: sadly, this adoption did not work out. For the first time in my life I had an intense allergic reaction to something about the little guy...it is breaking my heart, but I have to take him back.

365 Day 104 (almost made it -- but slightly late)

well, five minutes past my self-imposed deadline...

It may say midnight but it is actually 12:05 a.m. -- oh well. Close enough.

I finished papering 'Nipped (first layer) (?) It may not look too bad afterall.









'Nipped fully papered, head and neck...below that will be a shirt that I don't want paper on







Then I put another layer of paint on the middle ghost. He was blue, now he is chartreuse.









middle ghost, blue







middle ghost, chartreuse

365 Day 93

I'm not very fond of auto focus

One of the things I did today was to put another layer of color on the middle ghost in this painting.

I am trying to build up layers of color so that I can scratch through it.



before today's color layer










It is a wee bit frustrating to me that the camera will not focus on what I want it to focus on...that darn auto focus!





after today's layer of color








I wanted to show all of the wonderful colors and the sort of glow that is developing around the middle ghost. Oh well -- it is there -- I can see it in person.



hard to see in this photo, but the middle ghost is developing a really cool glow around it

365 Day 52

keeping busy



Today I worked on Piece #1 (which is most likely the only one I will try and submit to the toy-themed show). I still have a lot to do before the show's submission deadline and I think I should focus on my favorite of the three (which would be this one) and do what I feel is my best. I will absolutely complete the other two pieces, I just won't be submitting them to this show.





















I attached the two arms to the body. It took forever. I started at 9:15 and finished at 11:45.



Later in the afternoon I worked on adding the weights to the finger puppet boxes, but it just wasn't happening. I was trying to use some of those glass pebbles but they were not flat enough on the bottoms to stick with either rubber cement or crazy glue. I am not a hot glue user (even though I do own a glue gun) but that would probably work. Instead, I will find something else to use for vending weight.














Next I moved on to another layer of paint on the ghost. This time it was plain old acrylic paint.





Then I settled in and worked on finger puppets while watching television tonight. I got 25 to this stage -- side seams and bottom turned under and the whole thing turned rightside out. My hands and wrists are screaming at me...so is the back of my neck/shoulders area. I think what I need is some "cold-pack-and-purring-kitten therapy"...put the sewing away for the night and cuddle with Twink.

365 Day 42

LOTS of progress today!














The day started off with picking up 55 magazines from my wonderful dentist's office -- wow! Denise was glad to weed out their magazines and I was thrilled to bring them home. I promise to recycle whatever I don't use.














When Juana and I were at Green's Art Supplies yesterday, we looked at a lot of their art paper. They had some of the same papers I have at home including two of my favorites.

Today I decided to use the paper I have instead of just looking at it.












I had another canvas that was set aside "for later". This one was once a sort of birthday card I received a long time ago and it had lots of beads and glitter and puff paints on a black background. It was an appreciated and thoughtful gift at the time, but it had outlived the greeting many times over so I decided to repurpose it.













I also got out one of the jars of matte medium that I have never used before. Ever. Had it forever, never tried it. I originally bought it for use in collage because I read you can use it in place of glue.













I think it is turning out pretty cool already. The canvas is textured with the paper itself and the remaining beads and puff paint under the paper. The orange stripes are not as visible anymore because of the black paint underneath, but it looks pretty darn cool. I have no idea where I am going to go with this yet, I am just happy to have finally tried the matte medium. I think I will let the paper tell me what to do.

The other paper -- my absolute favorite -- the green with black rectangles pattern -- is now a part of the ghost on the right. And it is also part of the mouth of the ghost on the left, the ghost who is made up of a bit of everything on the canvas.














I really enjoyed tearing the paper. I would normally have cut it with scissors in the shape of the ghost, but I am fighting my comfort zone(s) with this canvas.


















I really love all the layers of color that are developing.














I love how the paper is almost like a mask around his eyes.














And here is the mouth of the ghost on the left.



















AND -- I am very excited about this...my friend and I were able to coordinate some time for him to come by this evening and look at my plans for my submissions for the Come Play With Me show. He thinks that it will be a quick thing for him to put the wood parts together for me. He took some of the parts home and will get started on them and I will go and get some of the other parts tomorrow morning and we will meet up again tomorrow and get rolling! Now I have to get to work on the toy parts!!!

365 Day 41

another layer




























I added another layer of color to the 3 ghosts canvas last night. I need to post this now because I don't know what time I will get home from today's arty fun and I don't want to miss my deadline.
















I painted in the studio this time and the lighting is not the same as the dining room...the colors are slightly off in these photos, but you can get the idea of how colorful the canvas is becoming.



The ghost on the left is kind of looking like a beatnik with a goatee today...but that is just the way the lighting is in the CD closet.











I am trying to see if I can add lots of color layers to the ghost in the middle and then I will add a layer of dark color and try to scratch through it...kinda like sgraffito in claywork.



















































Which brings me around to our arty adventure today. My friend Juana and I will go make several art filled stops and go out to lunch and finally end up at my friend Brenda's house to play with clay! We haven't done this (played with clay together) in such a long time. I don't want to pre-write too much now, but look for the post late tonight or early tomorrow!