New Work in Progress

Here's the original sketch -
















After several long days, I worked out the background, and some of the foreground - I had a drawing as you can see, but the difference between a sketch and making it happen on canvas or whatever - wow - a million miles sometimes. I can see it, almost touch it, but when I reach for it in my mind it dissolves like a mist - and when I back away from it, it materializes again...dang...so I'm hanging in a limbo but, little by little, it is becoming a reality.

This piece is a representation of the 'meeting of minds' and the way that people come to a discussion or participate in a relationship bringing all their baggage with them - 'patterns' of behavior, 'scripts', maps for mapping out our reactions...

Anyway, here are some of the parts - who knows how they will turn out in the end. I do have some cool stuff to add to it when I'm farther along, and I have this GREAT piece(the one with the single gear)that I intended to cut up, but I like it too much, so now it's got to be something on its own. It has such pretty color and texture in it, and the gear is cloudy, almost under a layer of gauze, but it's just turp-y paper towel and rubber gloves over very wet oil paint stick and oil pastel - the gear was drawn with dark colors that stained the paper, so it still shows up - almost like encaustics or glazes...cool...


I don't know exactly what I'm going to do now, the head with collage around it is me - the other one will be my mom. I've copied several old letters to her from my Dad when they were first married, pictures of her parents, her journals, etc. for her collage.













I love the heads, but the faces are still blank, I'll see what the 'muse' says tomorrow, I was listening to Coldplay today, maybe I'll listen to Leigh Nash tomorrow- hmmm, my gear there looks a little flat on the bottom...

Any ideas?????

Think I'm Finished??

Classwork status-
I worked more on this yesterday - changed the colors in the 'balls' by rubbing gray and/or coral soft pastel over them and rubbed it with my fingers - there's so much texture in those areas(used the end of a paint brush to scratch back into the still soft oil pastel/paint sticks) so the under colors still show, and the color is dulled by the pastel. I added the stitching on the pattern pieces and across the kimono - it's oil pastel also, scratched back out nearly with an xacto knife. Added a little more collage on several flower petals, and just over all cleaned it up. I didn't want to loose some of the original color or the multicolor edges of some areas, I personally like some of the unfinished look, but I do fuss over things too. But I THINK I'm done. My friend Laree and I are going to Alpine on Monday to let our instructor(talented watercolor artist college instructor Carol Fairlie) see what we've been doing for our class. Have to be finished in 2 weeks!!! YIKES!!!

Collage ramblings-
I also took pictures of some old work - 2 oil pastels on roofing paper and a c. pastel on newsprint. I'm going to use these in the newbie ATC's as background papers - I'll probably make them b/w and hand color them, or turn them into 'colorbook' drawings and handcolor them....or something. Old sketchbooks make awesome 'stuff' for backgounds, xeroxed on cool papers. I have an hp 1210xi all in one, and I have yet to find any paper or cardstock thickness paper I couldn't run through it - I have run painted papers and watercolor paper and of course my pattern tissue. Forgive me if everyone already knows all this!! I feel I have 'discovered' all this on my own - but of course - great minds think alike, so many of you may be doing the same thing!
I am trying to only use only my own images and family photos, I LOVE collage, I like to xerox until the detail is nearly gone, then xerox onto weird papers, old stuff, maps, etc. Also, I do like to make my own stamps. If you haven't tried the blue stuff - made by Penscore - you need to - you can make and remake your own stamps, using old medals, jewelry, words written with hotglue, cardboard letters, etc. the stuff is only 3X5ish, but you can overlap and connect in 100 ways!
Misc. stuff-
Thanks to whoever recommended Blogarithm.com - it is awesome!!! Several of you posted to your blogs yesterday and I got this handy little email with a direct link to your new entry! Fantastic!!!
Have a great weekend!!! Deb