I usually check my email and Facebook before I go to bed. Well, last night/early this morning I saw a call for art from the Northville Arthouse for their show called West of Center. (And yes, they are "west" of Center St.) I have wanted to submit something there for a while but I haven't been able to fit anything I already had in progress OR make something specific that I was happy with.
I went to bed and I naturally started thinking about what I could do for Left of Center. Then the ideas wouldn't quit and after an hour I eventually had to give in and just get up because there was no way I was going to fall asleep. I was thinking of several things I had in the basement that could have been bases for a plaster cloth creature. I brought some of them up to the studio and I couldn't quite get things to gel.
Then it came to me to try and use a couple of things that I had in progress but had "set aside for later". I made these when I was first trying out plaster cloth and they were pretty misshapen and wonky. I worked with them for a bit and things started coming together.
I like both of them a lot but they are both in the very very very beginning stages and most likely will end up looking quite a bit different than their basic shapes.
The canine-ish head was already a fairly substantial clump of plaster cloth. The only thing I knew about it for sure was the tilting ears looking like he hears something. Actually, that cracks me up...even when I've had enough sleep. I think this piece will be a take off on one of my drawings/characters called "Wolfy". When I started out the head was more of a rectangle and had sort of flat (but very bumpy and crater-y) surfaces. I added the nose and tried to get a rounder shape for the head. I also added a thick neck...it originally had a wrapping paper tube neck. It is sitting on top of an u
pside down tomato cage. (I have a number of the cages that I bought specifically to make papier mache things with -- big creatures...I am still working my way up to that and I have switched from papier mache to plaster cloth.) This guy is about 48 inches tall.harsh early-morning-it's-snowing light is not great for lighting objects for photos
The catlike guy started out tonight as just an aluminum foil covered balloon on a wrapping paper tube neck. When I started playing with it I found that the balloon was not as inflated as it once was. I compressed it a bit and shaped it a little and made the markers for ears. I added stuff around it to give it more of a body shape and this is where I am so far. The arms are just lightly taped so I could see how they might work. This guy is about 21 inches tall.
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