365/2013 - Day 250

more questions than answers

I will be glad when winter is here and these allergens are gone.  Man.

Today has been mostly thinking about things and trying to come up with some answers for projects.

The collage I rolled paint over yesterday is dry.  It feels like the paint will stick just fine.  I can see through areas of it and now I wonder if I should follow any of the suggestions that are surfacing.

A recurring theme (no matter what direction I turn the canvas) is some sort of bovine or equine creature.  It is hard to see it here, so I did the yellow lines thing again...it looks better in person.

I decided not to decide yet on the subject for the big canvas.  Instead I focused on the rabbit's other shoe/foot.  Following the way I ended up doing the other pink flowered shoe I pulled the liner out and built up a "foot" front.

It needs to dry pretty hard before I can push it all the way into the shoe.  I have a slightly better idea of how to do it this time but I still need to adjust it as I go along.

Then I had a lot more time on my hands so I started looking through some of my older image files of art I made a while ago -- hoping to find something I might be able to transfer and rework on the big canvas.  I still have the crazy idea I'd like to paint something.  I made this pen and ink sketch in 2008 when I was making a lot of ATC/ACEO items and selling them on eBay.  I printed out the file the size of the ATC, then enlarged that, then scanned and enlarged it again and printed out the two parts and taped them together.  Still not big enough.  I wonder if Kinko's or someplace might be able to make a transparency that I could project onto the canvas?  Still thinking...

And having been looking at my old drawings now I have those images in my head -- and this thing surfaces on the canvas.  Again, it looks much cooler in person but it seems to be some sort of cat/fox hybrid.  I don't know...at least it is closer to the right size...LOL

And then there is still this guy...what am I going to do with him????

I want to finish him (as a possible submission to another upcoming local show) but I don't know how I want to finish him.  Should I keep adding layers of various kinds of paper until I get some colors I like?  Should I just gesso him and swallow hard and choose some damn colors and paint him?  I don't know...I've come this far with him and I like him a lot.  I don't want to finish him just to finish him...I want to like how he looks afterwards, you know?  Gah!

365/2013 - Day 243

paper the horns of the long horns guy

Tonight I put a layer of green (to be able to see what I have already covered) tissue paper on the upper half of the long horns guy.  It. takes. a. long. time.  Man!

As you can see in the photos, there are numerous wrinkles in the paper -- that is intentional.  I want this guy to dry with a hint of texture, but at the same time be fairly uniformly smooth for easier painting.

365/2013 - Day 242

working on the 2nd horn

Tonight I wrapped the long horns guy's second horn and tweaked the base of the first horn a little so that they'd blend in better.  I also added a couple more layers of plaster cloth around his mouth to define it a bit and I shaped it a smidgen with the wooden clay tool.

365/2013 - Day 241

another shift and then horns modification test

Today was my last shift at the Art House for Patti (in this stint) -- I took some photos of the doors that the kids painted at the Arts and Acts Festival children's table this year.  They look so cool -- I bet they were a blast to work on!

I registered some more people for classes, answered the phone, and (mostly) worked one more day on pulling magazine images for an upcoming batch of Animal People for Art-o-mat.

Tonight (after the medicate/elevate/cold pack routine) I decided to dive in and at least try putting  plaster cloth over one of the horns of the long horn guy.  I am not sure if I like it or not so I will wait to see how it dries before tackling the other horn and tweaking them both.

365/2013 - Day 198

yay -- it's official!

Remember that "mystery thing" that I was so excited about and taking steps toward completing and that I wasn't saying what it was exactly until if/when it actually happened?  Well, today it happened!  I took my oath and I was officially sworn in as one of the new members of the Northville Arts Commission!  My term runs until June 30, 2016.  I am so excited and happy -- you'd think I was just crowned Queen of Northville or something.

Now...on with regular stuff...

Tonight I built up some of the features on the rabbit-guy's face.  I gave him some cheeks and filled in the area under his eyes a bit.  I haven't committed it to plaster cloth yet...I am still too giddy from today to get in there and do some serious work.   But I like how his face is becoming more round.  I think I do want him to be a combination of a cat and a rabbit.  He still needs work around his eyes and he needs his nose built up a little more.  His ear needs to be repaired, too.

As far as the long horns guy goes, I think I am pretty happy with his basic shape.  The papering and painting will finish him off.  I also decided to keep his hands/arms the way they are.

such a sweety guy

365/2013 - Day 197

starting to shape up a bit

Earlier this afternoon I did some of the printing for the current batch of Tookies finger puppets for Art-o-mat.  I forgot (already) that I need to do a couple of photos of the new Tookies for the label, placard, and for the website...gah.

This evening I knew I needed to get back into the wet plaster cloth studio and do some work on the long horns-guy and the rabbit-guy.  I was really dreading it but it needed to be done. 

before

This is more what I wanted...a definite mouth for later when I paper over it.  It will still keep changing a bit as the paper gets layered on and again when it gets painted.  The  nose is still there, it is just hard to see it in this light...I can still feel it when I slide my hands over his face.

Another view...but also to show the rabbit-guy because I forgot to take a "before" photo of him...but you can go back farther in the blog if you want to look at him.

I'm actually pretty happy with this -- this is more what I had in mind.

He almost looks like a kangaroo-guy in this view.

AND I decided to try to pop those taxidermy eyes into place.  I had to build up a bit underneath them to "aim" them -- I think they look pretty good right now.  I will need to work on his face some more.  He may turn out to be a combination cat/rabbit-guy.

Back away from the plaster cloth guys, Took...quit tweaking them for now!

365/2013 - Day 195

working on plaster cloth

I started the afternoon with thinking about what my next hand sewn guy would be.  I tried to draw a couple of sketches in the sketch book that Leann made.  

I think I would like to make the arms and legs have big buttons on them so that they can be interchangeable.

Later, I was thinking about a couple of possible submissions for upcoming shows.  I am not going to say which ones because I might end up not submitting anything after all...but I want to work on a few plaster cloth guys that have been waiting patiently.
 

This is the guy with the long horns that I started papering, but then I found that one of his fingers was cracked at the bottom and needed to be strengthened.  It was the second finger up from the bottom on the right.

Once I started working on that one finger I figured I'd like to even all of the fingers and thumbs out and then smooth out the arms.

Here is how he turned out so far.

Later on I went back into Studio B to look at this guy a little more.  

Then I realized why I didn't like him as much as when I first started him...he doesn't have enough of a face.  I wadded up a plastic bag that was on the table to try to give him a chin...something to work with, anyway.

It is hard to capture what exactly it is that I am seeing.

He's starting to get a little more of a personality...I'm not sure this is the end of adding to him, though.

The camera doesn't "see" what I see...odd lighting in that room with the skylight.  Also, I think I will clean that stuff off of his eyes.

That's a bit better...

Another view.

I like him more already...but I know he isn't done yet.

And now that I've been away from this guy for a little while I can't decide if I like those stubby hands and arms for him.  Maybe they need to be cut off after they dry...maybe he needs longer, thinner arms and longer, thinner fingers...