Day 27 - 365/2014

Day Twenty-Seven

Cool -- the first fifty of the one hundred collage blocks are front-wrapped!

Yay!

I liked the colors of the edges of the blocks in the shipping box so much that I turned the box sideways and took a photo and I'm using it on my Facebook page as my cover. 

But, whoa -- I finally feel like I actually DID something today -- I nearly cleared out the space under the big table in Studio A!!!!  AND I "allowed" myself/forced myself to throw out (a whole contractor sized trash bag) of stuff that I have been saving...stuff I thought I was maybe going to use for plaster cloth guys.  But now that I have a better feel for making the plaster cloth guys, I also have a better idea of what I will actually use and what needs to GO.  Wa-hoo!

Man -- stuff gets so out of hand so quickly.

I sorted all that stuff down to this much.

Hey -- I can see under the table!

I am allowing myself to keep these containers for a little while longer...only because they all have lids (execept that tall one).

I even found the lids for the two containers that were already on my wire rack.

I'd like to sort things into smaller containers so they are more grab-able when I need them.

This is all that is left of all of that stuff...I am going to take these bins into Studio B and clean up in there, too.  Then I will take the bins down to the basement where there is plenty of storage room...and other stacked bins.

AND I have reclaimed my way cool baskets!!!  Maybe more FUN stuff can go in them now.

And while I was cleaning I (nearly) stumbled upon this box lid that was part of a project in one of our Second Thursday meet ups.  I am not sure exactly why but I want to see if I can paint guys like this on Art-o-mat blocks...yes, another series. 

The box lid is one from those brown papier mache-type little boxes you get at Michael's for a buck a piece.  It is hard to see, but in person you can see through the yellow paint and half-see the brown paper...so I tried the same yellow paint applied thinly to the Art-o-mat MDF block...cool -- same sort of effect.  So far, so good!

And then I was thinking...what if I wanted to not have it so plain in the background...I wonder what it might look like if I try using the same alcohol-inks-and-water-on-butcher-paper to wrap a block and then paint it.

But then I was looking at the wrapped blocks and I started seeing guys begin to surface (like in the repurposed canvas/collages).

Fox guy surfacing.

Or in this direction -- clearly there is a bear or dog running from the right towards the left.

This one has all sorts of guys trying to come through.

Okay...time to leave the studio for tonight I think...just click "publish" and walk away, Took.  Plus, that painted box top looks kinda okay because it is so plain/simple.

365/2013 - Day 189

cleaning up and more Tookies

Today I started cleaning up the dry studio.  I hope to finish it tomorrow and then start clean up in the wet plaster cloth studio.  Yep, yep, yep...it's a start.

before

after (so far)

And I got this far on Tookies production -- completed finger puppets 81-90 (of 100) as far as the side seam stage.  

now the bottom edges need to be basted into place and then have the soft colorful yarn added to the bottom edge

365/2013 - Day 2

more short spurts

Today I worked in spurts on cleaning the studio and getting some art onto the walls.

I put the "self-portrait" collage on the wall today -- yay.  This was made in our 2nd Thursday group a while back.

I rearranged a couple of items in this space.  I found a frame for the beast up in the right top area.  That and the tiger in the lower right area were painted by little girl sisters -- purchased at the Grosse Pointe Art Center during a show.  Mary Fortuna's minotaur doll and Renee Dooley's skeleton girl doll have found seating on Leann Meixner's voodoo boxes.  Carla Morabito's woodburned goat-like guy sits on top of another Leann box.  The blue guy in the film box came from the Detroit Artists Market "That DAM Box 2" a while back.

 I had to make a trip into the basement to "shop" for a couple of frames.  I did a little bit of work while I was down there (big mistake).  I think these two pieces look like they've always been in this area of wall space.

The new additions are William Hessian's wolf/cat guy and Bonnie Pfingst's fox.

Here is William's piece closer up.

And I am DONE fighting with static electricity tonight, or I would've made more Tookies.  Geez.

All I could manage was these four...my hands and arms were covered with yarn and cut off bits.

365/2013 - Day 1

working in spurts

I worked at various things today in spurts.  My orthopedic appointment is still a week away and I am limited to what I can do physically.  In many ways, these last few days have been a challenge.

Today was a day of tidying up the blog, organizing and sorting things in the studio, gathering thoughts and ideas for the 2nd Thursday group that I would like to introduce (very minor structural tweaks), and making two more Tookies finger puppets.  

I set a production goal for myself for this batch of 100 Tookies finger puppets for Art-o-mat.  I have to make at least one puppet a day, but no more than 10.  I need to pace myself this time so that I don't fall behind but I also don't overwork my hands.








In the studio I made some de-cluttering progress by sorting:

• small hand tools
• paintbrushes
• little canvases
• stretch animals
• plastic jumping frogs
• tubes of acrylic paint
• various objects for plaster cloth

I also stacked numerous boxes of Art-o-mat art (that need to be sorted out -- inventory, pieces for demos, my own collection, etc.)  Empty Art-o-mat boxes were also put into the storage closet.
 

AND -- another minor achievement -- I made a small path so that I can walk all the way up to the metal racks in the very back corner of the studio behind my desk.  (I had to stretch to reach over things before...not a very smart for my knee.)



Well -- it doesn't look like much, but I was busy all day.  It is a start!