2012/365 - Day 149

flowers and starting to paint a guy

My friends Andi and Punkin came over this morning to finish up the foxglove plantings that they (and Jackbrown) started on Saturday (with all the intermittent rain).  In the meantime, another friend -- Peggy -- brought me some plants that she was thinning out from her garden...especially some columbines (and "we" moved some columbines in my yard, too).

This was the beginning of the day...you can see all of the photos at my Facebook album here.

The plantings are so lovely -- it looks like the areas have always been like that!

Today I also starting painting a plaster cloth guy.  This is a creature I made for myself and haven't painted yet because I didn't know what I wanted him to look like.  I gave him a few layers of spray paint today in four colors of Montana Gold paint.  

This is the first two coats -- a yellow and a bright green.

Next came orange and olive.

It was hard to get shots of the color because the sun that was able to filter through the trees whited everything out.

Back in the studio on my desk you can see the orange and olive much better.  I intend to use that as a bottom layer of color and paint him with acrylics and brushes.

I really like the way the antlers look, though...

I like how they change color as you walk around them.

It is almost like they are lit up from inside.

I sprayed the painted antlers with a thick coat of Golden spray matte varnish and it clouded up a little in places.  Geez...if it isn't too cold to spray outside (to try to avoid fumes) then it is too hot or humid.  I think that was the problem with the clouding of the varnish...although I kind of sort of like how it looks.

A little while ago I decided I was going to lay on a couple of colors of green around his eyes.  Gah...I had this same sort of problem with earlier pieces I tried to spray paint...the paint tends to brush off.  It acts like colored dust on the plaster cloth.

This happened previously with pieces I gesso'd first and also with this guy who wasn't gesso'd first.  It probably has more to do with my spray painting "techniques"/lack of skill and my spritzing versus spraying on an actual coat.

I like how the colors come up through the layers of spray paint, though...this is just the first layer around his eyes...lots more to do.

I am glad this is a piece I am keeping for myself.  I am considering submitting it to that upcoming show but I am not positive I am ready for it.  (The show or the finish-painting.)

I may end up not submitting anything at all to that show either.  We will see as the deadline approaches.  Baby steps to ME being happy with my completed pieces.

OOOH -- that IS thunder in the distance (that is quickly becoming not-so-distant)...I am turning my computer off now.

365 Day 122

cutting flowers

I have been playing around with this tonight.

I already had the cat girl assembled. I had a few of the flowers cut out, but I had to cut out a whole bunch more -- there were pink ones, magenta, orange, all much smaller.

I don't think I am done with this and I am not sure where I will go with it, but this is what I have been doing tonight...
gluing down flowers that I cut out.

KT Goodlove # 145

"Quit pushing all the buttons."

You have no idea how much I "agonized" over this one...geez. LOL

The silvery line on the original block looked like hills/mountains to me. Fine. But after I added the textured paper for the hilly/mountainy surface suddenly the wonderful silvery line that looked like snow kinda disappeared. Sheesh. I had already glued the paper on and I tried to add the cat girl but it just looked like a disconnected head and shoulders cuz you couldn't really see the snow-on-the-hills/mountains unless you tipped the block to catch the light.

When I put my parts "behind" Kettle's paint I have to make a tracing paper (or tissue paper) mask. I couldn't see the silver line through the tracing paper -- no matter what lighting I tried.

Listen, my drawing abilities are incredibly limited. This is where the agonizing part comes in. I had to draw that black line in with a micron pen.

Man, if I messed it up...if it smeared...if my hand slipped. Yeah, I could have "fixed" it by giving it a paper sky to go over the messed up line but it wouldn't have been what I was going for. Cripes...honestly, it took me most of the day to get up the courage to put that black line on there. Whew.

This is block #145 in the Kettle and Took collaboration series KTGoodlove for Art-o-mat®.

KT Goodlove # 144

"is unfolding up in her world."










I know, I know...tsk tsk tsk...I de-suggestive-ized Kettle's original phrase. Sorry. I think it works really well in Kettleland, but in my opinion (and no, I didn't consult with him, btw) I feel that KT Goodloveland is a mixture of both of us and it felt like I needed to alter the phrase as well as the block. And Kettle keeps reassuring me that whatever I end up doing to the block is the "right" way to do it. So there you go.

This is block #144 in the Kettle and Took collaboration series KTGoodlove for Art-o-mat®.

KT Goodlove # 141

"there is a monster"










I like the way the dog girl is looking at the monster like "oh, poor thing, it's out of its mind".

This is block #141 in the Kettle and Took collaboration series KTGoodlove for Art-o-mat®.

KT Goodlove # 139

"come on"

I hope you can hear Werner Herzog's voice saying "come on"...cuz that is where I got it from. He says it in pretty much every film I see him in (documentary OR movie role).

I love Werner Herzog.

This is block #139 in the Kettle and Took collaboration series KTGoodlove for Art-o-mat®.

KT Goodlove # 129

This is block #129 in the Kettle and Took collaboration series KTGoodlove for Art-o-mat®.

KT Goodlove # 127

"prisoner zero has escaped"

This is block #127 in the Kettle and Took collaboration series KTGoodlove for Art-o-mat®.

33

Cat gal walking in the catalogue flowers under the tissue paper clouds.

oh, let's call it 30

"I've changed my ways."

As long as I have 50 collages to send in, it really doesn't matter what number they are in this blog...why am I obsessing about this?

21 (18-22)

"come to my party"

Frau Schafe's invitation is Number 21 (18-22) from the latest batch of collages for my Animal People series for Art-o-mat®.

13 of 17

Number 13 (of 17) posts of the latest batch of collages for my Animal People series for Art-o-mat®.

(I can't remember if this is a dog man or a dog girl)

12 of 17

"Do you want me to say it? Do I have to say it?"

10 of 17

"it's over there. you can't see it from here."

5 of 17

Number 5 (of 17) posts of the latest batch of collages for my Animal People series for Art-o-mat®.

KT Goodlove # 121

"It's my apartment. I can stand where I want."

This is block #121 in the Kettle and Took collaboration series KTGoodlove for Art-o-mat®.

Day Two Hundred Twenty-Five (KTG #57)

I am happy with the way this set of KT Goodlove collages are turning out so far. But I have to say that I am really pleased with this one.

I have never made such a tiny animal person before. I also like the way the flowers look and how they are similar to the painted flower. I like that the cat girl is looking at the rabbit. I like the rabbit's expression. I like the tilted number. I like the colors.

I just really like this one!

This is block #57 in the Kettle + Took collaboration series "KT Goodlove" for Art-o-mat®.








Have I mentioned lately that these blocks are 2 1/8" x 3 1/4" (or so)? (I thought they were 2.5x3.5)

Day One Hundred Ninety-Six

everything is always so iffy

Isn't it, though?

I really like the way the colors blended in the background on this one.

This is another collage for my Art-o-mat® series called "Animal People".

Day One Hundred Seventy-Two

I like those flowers. Puts me in mind of British Invasion music...Dusty Springfield, Manfred Mann, Sandie Shaw, Kinks, Gerry & the Pacemakers...I love that stuff!

This is another collage for my Art-o-mat® series called "Animal People".

Edit: I just noticed this when I posted the block..."accents" fits, too! Ha...I amuse myself. Totally unintentional.

Day One Hundred Forty-One

I am not kidding...I cannot even tell anymore at this point. There are probably 8 different shades of green on this dog. I will get a second and third opinion tomorrow, but I think this one probably will not go into a machine...I am not happy with it but I put too much time into it to scrap it as today's post.

It's like my eyes are totally fried tonight...like they soaked up waaaaaay too much bright sunshine and colors today. Over stimulation or something...maybe the lighting in the studio is just too harsh tonight. I don't know.

I went to the Farmer's Market in Northville this morning to buy flowers for the yard. At 8 am it was already so bright I almost couldn't see. Then all those colors of flowers and people and cars...it was a madhouse. Later I was joined by my friend Andi (who will be doing the planting tomorrow) and we went to two garden centers and a gardeny store (gazing balls, wind chimes, statuary...that kind of gardeny store). When I got home I still hadn't had enough and I spent several hours in the late afternoon and early evening looking at flower catalogs...all those super saturated colors...man!

My eyes are just totally fried. Or something.

This tiny portrait is for my series "Penciled In" for Art-o-mat®...or maybe not...probably not. Sheesh.

Update: (next day) Andi suggested brightening up his "aura"...not sure if this helped...I'll ask her (and Annabella) tomorrow...it was almost impossible to get anything to show up on the red/magenta background.


Saturday Update: Andi says it looks fine now with the extra colors in the "aura". I will trust her
opinion.