Day 89 - 365/2014

Day Eighty-Nine

Today I have been trying to plan ahead a little...add things to the working calendar... projects for possible submissions, Art House exhibits I am working on, getting back to Art-o-mat (eventually), and hopefully some collaboration(s) with Terri.

I sketched a little bit about the wooden cigar boxes...I have a few ideas and they would most likely be for November.

I was thinking that before I get a whole lot farther with the hatchling guy I ought to figure out a way to get hanging wires incorporated into his structure.  I tried drilling holes into the flattest parts but I couldn't drill all the way through.  I think it was a combination of nerves, drill bit was just a tad short, and/or the drill was running into the wire hangers inside of the body.  At least I didn't make it snap apart.

Then I was looking around in Studio B, trying to choose something that might be complete-able by the end of next month.  I uncovered a couple of oh-yeah-those-guys I totally forgot about...this guy with the really long horns...

 

...and the little ceramic robot-y head guy...but he needs arms/hands.  Then I uncovered a set of hands and feet.

Those hands and feet were going to be for a soft sculptured body but I lost interest in it.  They might work for the robot-y guy.  But I would have to take the knobs off to be able to attach them to the plaster cloth securely.

And I couldn't remember what made his legs so heavy...oh yeah...airline-sized vodka bottles.

Okay, so now...how long should the arms be?

Luckily I only used the caps of the empty glue sticks for his arms because they came right out after wiggling them a little.  That allowed me to "bend" the hands upward a bit...give him some elbows (sort of).

I think I have decided against these feet for him.

But here is the real question -- can he fly? 

And here he is after working on him with the wet plaster cloth tonight.  I needed to build up his torso area (I can't remember what's under there right now) but it sounded (and felt) like it needed more layers.  I also thickened the plaster cloth on his legs and strengthened both of his index fingers...one of them had a hairline crack.

And here are the two guys I together...they are kind of cracking me up.

365/2013 - Day 68

quiet day at home

After yesterday's flurry of activities I needed a day to just take it slow and easy.  I worked in the studio chipping away at decluttering...things are looking a bit better.

I was thinking about this calf-like guy today -- I couldn't quit thinking about him -- so I tried to fill in one of his eyes.

I really didn't feel like painting (do I ever?) so I didn't want to force the issue...but I feel a little bit better with just that much started.

Later on I tried doing a few automatic drawing pages in a sketchbook.  Not much came through in 5 pages...but here are two of them.  Nothing like I would actively think to draw.

a sort of a chubby bearded big nosed wizard kind of guy

a goat-like horned wizardy guy with hoofy feet in a long robe with an ermine-ish cape

A bigger task I needed to do -- I wrote out my initial information letter to the artists for the exhibition I am curating this October.  It is ready to be proofed then mailed.  Yay.

Oh -- and I needed to get some wine for next week's artists reception for the 4-person show I'm in.  I am not a wine drinker -- I choose by the label art.  I love these bears.

 

365/2013 - Day 66

working in my plaster cloth sketchbook 

I recently took photos of most of the plaster cloth guys that are in various stages of process/progress and added them to a sketchbook to see if that would help me plan things out a little better.

Because I got my 2nd injection in my knee this afternoon I have been pretty laid up this evening.  It really hurt this time...waah waaah, poor Took.  (Suck it up, Cupcake!) But I worked on the crocodile-creature whenever I came out of my fog...LOL.

Here are the sketchbook pages for the croc-guy so far.  I can't decide whether I want to leave him on the tomato cage and figure out how to balance him -- OR -- take the "easier" (hah) route and cut him off of the tomato cage and make him into a large, long, ground-hugging guy.  Up on his feet, but low to the ground.  I am leaning more towards the leaving him on the tomato cage and dealing with the balance problem...and with that option I have two ideas for him/her.  

My original idea was a granny croc kind of creature wearing a shawl and a flowery print dress.  She'd be grays and whites with a black wash to show the textures of her surfaces.

What I am leaning more towards now is a representation of the character in one of my favorite Tyrannosaurus Rex songs "Warlord of the Royal Crocodiles".  I think there would be more to work with in terms of weighting him inside of the tomato cage and adding weight to his arms and scepter for balance.  

But it is still early yet...this could change totally by the time I start working on it for real.

2012/365 - Day 4 (plus update)

gesso day

Today I am applying 2 coats of gesso to the cat-creature and the head and 4 body sections of the studio snake. The cat-creature is done is four sections...top and bottom, front and back.



I did the first coat(s) in the plain white gesso. I did the top half of the cat-creature and the top half of the studio snake's head and 3/4 all the way around on the body sections of the studio snake.

It is very bright white and hard on the eyes. It is also hard to see where I've already painted.











I have seen tinted gesso online but it is sort of expensive.

I decided today to try tinting my own small batches. I added a little bit of acrylic paint to the plain white gesso -- looks good!













Wow -- that is SO much better! And now I can see spots I've missed, too.



Now I need to hoist the cat-creature back up onto the table to gesso two coats on the base and also finish off the studio snake parts.










I shot the cat-creature from several different positions so that I could print out pages to practice color combinations, etc. in my sketchbook. That is what I will be doing for the rest of the evening because I still have no idea what I want to do with this guy -- except I do have one idea for the tail.

Hopefully I will take a break and work on the next five Animal People collages (for Art-o-mat) tonight.


UPDATE: Oh, wouldn't you just know it? I got around to the last part of the base of the cat-creature and there are two areas that need plaster cloth repair. Darn it.




This is a spot of the tail that attaches to the body on the front/side.















This is a whole edge of a section of plaster cloth that wasn't smoothed down all the way.

Oh well...at least I can repair them. I am glad I saw them now -- before I started the finish painting.

2012/365 - Day 2

I know it isn't going to happen like this every time, but...

Wow. I love it when synchronicity happens.

This evening I tweaked my blog intention list thing and added that I wanted to use a sketchbook more often. I doctored one of the photos I took of the blue wolf-guy and printed it out and cut it out and glued it into the sketchbook that just happened to be on my desk.

When this guy turned out this way I was thinking he was some sort of guru or monk or something wrapped up in a robe. But when I was cutting out the picture I thought, "no, he looks like a guy that just stepped out of the shower and has a towel wrapped around him" and it made me laugh.

So I tried drawing some legs underneath him and added fur to his legs and chest.

Then it occurred to me -- remember that cabinet that fell down a few steps and crashed on my head and hit the floor when I was moving it down from the loft in the cat room?
Well, I just moved it again a few days ago and one of the legs came off again so I took both of the legs off and I like the cabinet a whole lot more. Anyway...




These are those legs from the cabinet. As soon as I had drawn the legs on the blue wolf-guy I knew these were his legs.















However, I did not know at the time that the saw I have been using to cut the legs off of the tomato cages (and also anything else that needs to be cut like the swimming pool floaty bopper things) is not the saw you need to cut wood.

Luckily I found my other saw and was able to cut the wood off quickly and without incident.







A photograph of what synchronicity + success looks like (for me).













And here is the blue wolf-guy with his new legs -- he stands on his own! AND the legs have feet already -- just like in the sketch!

I have plenty of work left to do on this guy, including figuring out how to attach the legs to the body...but I love it when a string of things just falls into place! Wow.

365 Day 346 -- part two

thinking and sketching and problem solving

Okay -- this is part two of today's post. (Here is part one if you missed it and don't want backtrack.)


So I photographed the parts I needed to think about and started in the sketchbook (in front of tv with a cup of coffee).

I printed out the photos, added them to the sketchbook and started thinking things out and making notes around the photos. I thought I had a few things figured out but I ended up changing my mind a little.











Originally I had figured out to attach the "body" to the tomato cage using the holes I drilled earlier and buttons with wire (instead of thread) to anchor the rods/legs and the join.

The only problem with that when I got into my studio again was that I don't have any large buttons. I figured they'd need to be at least the size of a quarter, if not larger. Then I was thinking about the curve of the inside of the body and how the button would leave a gap. Oh bother.

Then I was pouting just a bit and I spotted a tray full of the smaller, thinner sized MDF blocks (that I use for the Penciled In Art-o-mat series) and I drilled four holes into four blocks and added more holes to the body base.









I was thinking that yeah, there'd be a gap but on the inside it wouldn't really matter if the anchor was big enough and strong enough. I decided not to use one on the outside because of the lip on the body base that gives me an upper/lower area at the bottom of the base.



This is how it looks on the inside.








I used a really really thin galvanized wire (about a yard long) and sort of sewed the block on to the inside of the base.






Inside shot of join #1.










It will all get covered up so it doesn't really matter how kah-ray-zee it looks right now.





Outside shot of join #1.












Here is how it looks from farther back. That is not wet plaster, the base of the upper part of this piece is built on a hard plastic container.









Then I updated the sketchbook and started to troubleshoot some more.

I know that the wire will rust eventually so I added masking tape over the exposed wire on the front and also to the wire on the inside...even though I won't be plaster cloth'ing on the inside of the base.





I don't imagine that will really protect the wire but it makes me feel better. I mean, the tomato cage wires rust...some of the older ones in my stash are already a little rusted in spots.

I think that this piece will really actually be held together by all of the outer plaster cloth anyway.

I was going to start layering on some plaster cloth to the bottom of the base but I have totally run out of steam. Maybe later on before bed I will tackle that...maybe not. Until then I will be thinking about how I am going to get the plaster cloth onto the tomato cage grid area. I have lots of materials around here to choose from...I just need to think about what I am going to do with this guy. I am even wondering if I can make legs for him instead of leaving the base looking like a cone. Hmmm...

365 Day 346

working with tools

Oh my goodness -- I did it all on my own!

I put on my big girl pants and figured this out...measured (yes, measured), sawed, and drilled. It took the better part of the morning (and I hope it is actually turns out to be a workable solution) but I did it myself...no questions, no manuals, no internet searches. Sorry, but I kinda amazed myself when everything lined up correctly -- not once, but twice! (I also measured and drilled for the smaller tomato cage but I prefer the larger one.)

Ha ha...I am actually pretty shaken up now from the intensity and I will be going to take a good long coffee/tv break. My hands and arms need a rest and so do my nerves. I know, I know... I beat myself up/make fun of myself enough about stuff...I have that well covered...oh, poor Took.

How it went:





I measured up thirteen and a half inches from the first ring and marked all of the rods. Then I used that saw (hack saw maybe?) and killed my wrist and cut the rods about three quarters of the way through and then bent them back and forth until they snapped off.

I wonder what I can use the rods for later -- I am amassing a nice pile of them.








I had the cat-creature balanced on each tomato cage and marked where the rods were. The smaller tomato cage has three legs, the larger one has four. I prefer the larger one because it is heavier and a bit more stable.

Then I got out the Dremel tool and hoped that the correct bit was in. I laid the cat-creature on its side on my (recently cleared off) desk and held my breath and drilled the first hole.

Whoa -- stuff shot all over the place and the drill kinda danced a little but I had a death grip on the cat creature and on the Dremel tool (and I was pretty much expecting it) so we all survived.







I had to swirl the drill around a little to make the holes bigger than the bit. They don't all match (and I am trying to get over that) but they all line up!

For the large tomato cage holes I drilled an upper and lower hole. I only did one hole for each of the smaller cage holes -- I figured I could go back and do a corresponding lower hole for each of those if I needed to. I was hoping the larger cage was going to work.










I am just amazed that everything lines up and that I did it myself. BIG confidence booster!










Wow -- look at the cat-creature perched on top of the larger tomato cage...temporarily.

I am going to try and wire the piece to the rods...much later today. After this morning, that should be a piece of cake!

Now to park myself in front of the television with a cup of coffee and a sketchbook (- gasp! -) and see what I can come up with for the rest of the design for this cat-creature.

I don't usually use a sketchbook, but it was pretty handy with the preliminary stages of the building of Chime Cat. I am going to try get into the habit of sketching things more often.