2012/365 - Day 310

dulling down all that color

Tonight I popped "Thick as a Brick" by Jethro Tull into my computer/iTunes and worked on this guy for one full play of the CD.  I did it because I wanted to hear the CD, but I also needed to limit my work time so that I don't overdo things with my right hand.

Holding a paint brush to apply the matte medium to the torn papers and smooth it on to the manikin's surface is less of a "tight/closed-hand" process than sewing is.  (I'm saving sewing for Wednesday at Joan's.)  (Epic sewing sessions seem to be what trigger the cramping in my hands.)

Okay -- so here are the photos from this work session that lasted 43:36 minutes.

This is the manikin with plaster cloth, tinted gesso, and four colors of alcohol ink dripped (instead of spritzed) onto it.  And NOT the colors I had in mind, either.

I tear up little pieces of the white areas of tissue paper (that I have in abundance, and is on its way to the recycle bin) and lay them onto areas of the manikin that I have applied a thick coat of matte medium to.  

I work in smallish areas at a time so that I can smooth out the paper as I go.

The matte medium tends to melt and smear the colors a little...but this is just the bottom layer. 

Also -- using a paint brush in stead of my fingers this time is letting me work "wetter" than usual...less tearing of the paper with the brush.
 


And because I want the paper to dry with a sort of texture, I am not upset with not being able to get all of the wrinkles out.  As I am working I go back and do more smoothing, but basically I am looking for the paper to give me a little bit of an appearance of fur or skin that will look just fine later on in the process.  If I had only used my fingers (no brush) I would have been able to get the paper smoother.

Only the left side of the manikin has paper on it.

The back of the head and shoulders area -- a bit more dry -- and you can start to see through the paper again.

Just a shot to show the difference with and without the paper.

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.

365 Day 236

creatures emerging and revealing themselves

I have had this canvas for some time now. It was originally given to me as a birthday present -- a sort of giant birthday card. It had swirly metallic lettering and teensy seed beads and glitter and was wonderful at the time, but then it was stuck in a closet for a long time.

I don't remember exactly when I pulled it out and scraped off as much of the glue and beads as I could. In doing this, many small tears and holes happened so I covered the entire surface with this wonderful stripey handmade paper that I love and never found a use for. When I matte medium'd the canvas and laid the paper down and then covered the paper again on top with more matte medium, it really soaked in and changed the look of the paper a lot...but covered the little holes and tears. The other thing that happened is that you can sort of see some of the images and beads through the stripes...in places...but you absolutely cannot see the original lettering or cake or anything...I mean, you can see some swirly bits, but you can't read it.



The canvas with the paper on it...and turned sideways instead of the original direction.


I had no intention of working on this tonight, but it caught my eye when I was about to leave my desk...







...a bird was emerging tonight from under the paper...I couldn't ignore it...I have tried to draw birds before and it never really works for me. So I took this as something that needed to happen.









I darkened the lines a bit, now you can see the bird better.










Then this creature emerged along side of the bird.











I tried to ignore the heart-shape that was calling me...then I saw the eyes and the whale tail...then the body started to show itself. Believe me, this is not like anything I would draw on my own.

This whole thing is reminding me of the linocut sketch book from the relief printmaking class -- how I kept finding creatures in my scribbled pages. This is taking things quite a bit farther for me, though...this is most likely going to require painting...LOL.

Here is the newest creature with more of a body.

I think the painting of these creatures will be similar to the Experimental Art Night painting exercises and not be as stressful as the painting of plaster cloth guys.





And here is how all three of them look on the canvas.

I am going to leave this and come back to it every now and then, the way I do with the canvas that started out as the three ghosts...that one keeps evolving, too.

Ooops -- re-reading this and looking at the photos, it looks like a fox or wolf head is emerging near the heart-shape face creature's tail...maybe I'm not done for tonight yet.