365/2013 - Day 55

awwwww, nuts

I had a feeling I wouldn't be using all seven of the plaster cloth guys.  Some just aren't far enough along.  Some aren't turning out as I'd hoped.  A couple are beyond painting in the amount of time I have left.  But I am still hoping for a few.

You wouldn't think so, but tearing paper takes a LOT of time.  And then adhering the little pieces to curvy surfaces takes time.  Man.

I am really falling in love with this guy now.  I want to do a really good job on him...and that means he will not be going into the upcoming show...just not enough time.

Another plaster cloth guy that will not make it into the show is the marsupial.  One of the several reasons why I am having trouble with his painting is the complicated task I set for myself.  Another is that I have never tried to do this before.  And yet one more reason is the uneven surface of the plaster cloth.  This painting design/style is hard enough but the bumpy surface(s) make it very hard to:

• get the edges on the layered circles sharp
• the gazillion tiny dots that go in between the larger layered circles are becoming textured when I try to put them on with the other end of the brush or with an eraser on a pencil -- I found a tiny sponge brush that will probably work but I need more time

I discovered last night that the millions of small dots I want to add (to represent Australian aboriginal-type art) are going to be painstakingly difficult due to the nature of the plaster cloth surface -- I don't mind putting in a lot of time, I just don't have that kind of time for the upcoming show.

More tearing of paper for the manikin guy.

I can't add any more paper bits right now -- he is too wet -- needs to dry a bit so I don't tear the pieces I already applied.

And another thing I learned tonight about painting/using colors...if you have a carbon black snake and you try to add phthalocyanine blue to the dry surface to make it look blue, it actually goes waaaaaay dark purple.  WTF?  

It LOOKS like a beautiful dark blue when it is wet on top of the very dry black paint, but it goes purple as it dries.  Even a second and third coat stay purple.

So -- another stab at going blue taught me that turquoise deep will stay blue...at least on top of the other blue (now dry as well).

They are both very appealing blues...it's just taking longer than I anticipated to get to the next step!  Gah!

I will finish all of these guys...but at a more reasonable pace.

Ah well -- live and learn. 

365/2013 - Day 41

I did it!

I was pretty wrecked for most of the morning -- yesterday took more out of me than I realized.  I almost didn't work on stuff today but I knew I had to if I wanted to keep on schedule.  I gave myself until around 11:30 this morning and then I forced myself to get to it.  Now I am glad I did.

Even though I only had these two guys left to work on, I knew I was in for another full day.

I figured I was either going to do just a few glass gems on the snake or do a whole lot of them.

 

Then I took a break for a quick lunch and cold pack on my back.  After lunch I felt remarkably refreshed and I knew I needed to dive back in or it wasn't going to get done by my self imposed deadline.

The marsupial guy was started a l-o-n-g time ago and has been many different projects before this incarnation.  His base (under all his current stuff) is where I first tried out using the glass gems under the plaster cloth...only I used the large ones.  Today I knew I wanted to add more of them, I just wasn't sure where or how many.

As often happens, I got set up to work still not sure what I was going to do.  Then he pretty much started making himself (aka my Universal collaborators dropped in).

This time I laid him down flat on the table and laid out the large glass gems.  Instead of using small plaster cloth triangles to attach each gem I used one large piece to cover all of them at once.  I still needed to do the individual stuff, but it was cool to secure them all in place at once.  It seemed to work pretty well.

I worked on his other surfaces with him in the flat position, then I stood him back up to work on his arms and put on some more smaller gems on his chest/neck area.

I wasn't expecting to do anything to his chest but I like it.  Painting all of these guys is something I am not looking forward to.  

Next up -- while all of the plaster cloth is drying -- I need to finish this guy.  He needs a face and to get his head attached...at least.  But that won't be happening tonight!

2012/365 - Day 270

the yarn bombing snake comes to my house

Sadly, the yarn bombing has been taken down from the front of the Northville Art House.  Remember the snake that was on one of the columns?  Well he has come home to my house!

I needed to stop by the Art House and grab my jacket that I left there last week and visit with Joan and Carla for a few minutes.  I had forgotten that this past weekend was when the yarn bombing was coming down.  It was SO fun!

This is where he used to be -- on the column at the Northville Art House.


Thanks once again to Ruth for donating that perfectly wonderful scarf!

He started out here when I brought him home but I decided that if you could see him from the road or the sidewalk across the street, it would just call more attention to all of my awful weeds.

(Well, as far as a full-on weed bed goes -- it is pretty magnificent...LOL)

After several trial placements he chose this spot.

He is lashed in place with more colorful yarn.  It gets pretty windy up here on the hill and I don't want him blowing all over the place.

For having been outside in all of the weird weather he is holding up pretty darn well!

Now the mosaic cat has a friend until it is time to bring them both in for the season.

A couple of colorful pals watchin' traffic...waiting...

2012/365 - Day 200

wow -- day 200!

It is a little hard to believe it is the 200th day of the year already...where does the time go?

This morning was another delightful Wednesday Morning at Joan's with Leann and Joan and Scout with guest appearances by Alex (and a friend of Alex's whose name I can't recall) and Ben.

Here is how it looked at Joan's kitchen table this morning...busy busy hands!

Later...back in my studio...

Scarf + floaty swimming pool bopper thing =...

... = snake!

The scarf was generously donated to the project by Ruth.

I already had an extra floaty swimming pool bopper thing.

I was really having trouble finding something to make his head with that could stand up to the elements but not get soaked and pull through the yarn.  I found some plastic containers in my plaster cloth supplies stash.

Now I need to figure out his face. 

I think his eyes need to be about the size of a cat toy ball.

Joan took some of the yarn from this skein for some pieces for the project she was working on but there is still about a quarter of the skein left to go.  I am determined to finish it off tonight -- considering I have done ALL of the beginning of this rope today!  It is incredibly long already but I haven't measured it...we stretched it from Joan's table this morning.  I will measure it when it is done.

365 Day 83

the last look at these guys for a while







'nip dealer -- rear view before gesso and 2nd coat of blue paint









Now that I have completed the Tookies that I will be taking to the 1st-Ever Tiny Market at Tiny Studio in Kalamazoo for the April Art Hop there, I am turning my attention to:

1. finishing my Chime Cat Visits Cloud City for "Come Play With Me" (Paint Creek Center for the Arts, Rochester)
   
2. my entries for "Meth & Hot Dogs 2" (LIFT, Royal Oak)

From this point on I will only show teasers. Photos of the final complete versions will only be shown at the blog after the run of a show.

The first three photos tonight are of the two main pieces I am making for "Meth & Hot Dogs 2". Click on the poster for more info.

Around these parts (my house, that is) my cats like to partake in a bit of catnip (aka 'nip) on occasion. My characters will be 'Nipped -- a hopelessly insatiable catnip addict and his 'nip dealer (untitled as of now). The dealer is a snake that I originally made as a tail for another creature (last year) but that I thought looked better on its own as a snake. Up until now I have been using this guy as a test surface for color combinations and palettes for other plaster cloth (and/or papier mache) items I have been working on. The stripes in the first photo were the basic pattern for Chime Cat's socks.

Both characters are shot from the back view tonight...that is the teaser part.

The snake has loads of layers of papier mache and plaster cloth already (because I was teaching myself how to use the materials) and I don't even remember how many coats of colors he has altogether (so far)...but tonight he got another coat of light blue and another coat of gesso....oh I have plans for this guy, all right.






'nip dealer -- paint and gesso -- rear view












'Nipped still needs quite a few more layers of plaster cloth. He was originally made for a figurative show I ended up not entering. I was basically not happy with the human-ish thing I made and it was mostly because I had forced it -- it wasn't really "me".

[That little exercise in futility helped me to learn that I can't really work like that. I need to make things that I want to make, that I have had in my head for a while...or that I feel some sort of connection with. I need to just make things because I need to make them. Then if they happen to fit an upcoming call for entries, cool. Or perhaps a basic shape can be tweaked for a show...that sort of thing. I think that was a really big part of the turning point for me this year.]

I have added a lot of roundness to his head (especially on the back) and added the ears. I also gave him more shape and substance with the addition of the shoulders and upper torso. I am reeeeeally happy with the ears so far.









'Nipped, rear view








Thankfully the delivery date for the art for "Come Play With Me" was extended a week. This will give me plenty of time to do the final painting of Chime Cat and to finish off his cloud cart, the pull strap and the handle for the strap. He will also need several layers of sealer.




unfinished Chime Cat, rear view


It has really been amusing to me that several people have thought that Chime Cat was in a sort of traveling litter box. He is actually in a cloud cart for getting around in Cloud City. I think it will be easier to see when it is finished. Plus, if you go see him in person, when that cart rolls and you hear the chimes you will know that there is no way that's a litter box....LOL.

365 Day 37 -- KT Goodlove 196

What freakin' language are you speaking?


KT Goodlove is the collaborative collage series that Kettle and I make for Art-o-mat. Kettle paints on the block and then I add my paper bits. This is #196.

On some of the blocks I make a reverse mask of Kettle's image and add in things to the backgrounds. For this collage I used a piece of butcher/deli paper that I colored with alcohol inks and watercolors because I wanted to see if I could get a bush and sky feel without adding an actual bush or sky. I like it.

I also like how I can't decide if it is the dog man or the snake/worm guy asking the question. (I always think of these characters that come out of the holes as snakes...but I suppose they might be worms.)

KT Goodlove 174

I'm fond of him

I enjoy it when you can't tell who is speaking in the collage.

Just a couple of buddies out for a nice slither.

KT Goodlove is the collaborative collage series that Kettle and I make for Art-o-mat. Kettle paints on the block and then I add my paper bits. This is #174.

KT Goodlove #97

"I wanna like it, but I just don't."


This is block #97 in the Kettle and Took collaboration series KTGoodlove for Art-o-mat®.