Books and other distractions

I keep repeating some bad behavior (okay I consider it bad mostly because I do this on a monthly basis, fix it then tell myself not to do it again. So naturally I do it again).

Over the course of a couple days, whatever I'm working on in the library draws my attention to a number of books. I check them out planning to read them and at the end of maybe three days, I have a stack of at least six books on my kitchen table waiting to be read.

And they sit there, sit there, sit there...still there about a month to six weeks later.

I've been trying break the cycle, so instead of creating little pieces of mediocre art to mail out, I've been reading....and reading and reading....

So, two cheers for me, I cleared my latest pile. (Of course some I simply returned, others I read the first paragraph and said no way....) but the important thing here is for once I made it throught the stack and half of it got read. (Instead of sitting around even longer and then getting returned without reading).

So here's a list of what was in the pile (I won't tell you what got read or re-read or returned without being opened or skipped due to disgust to the first paragraphs -- that might be helpful but why should I be helpful here?):

• The Whisperers, John Connolly
• Raziel (The Fallen), Kristina Douglas
• Unfamiliar Fishes, Sarah Vowels
• The Physic Book of Deliverance Dane, Katherine Howe
• The Darkest Secret, Gena Showalter
• Quicksilver, Amanda Quick
• Blood Oath, Christopher Farnsworth
• Predatory Game, Christine Feehan

Not included are the two books I checked out but never made it off my desk at work....
(St. Lucy's Home for Girls raised by Wolves or the Peanut Butter Murders)

Fin

So another piece has found its way to an owner. This was one of those times that I had a thought and started collecting different materials to be considered, then as I was trying to fit things together just to eliminate some of my selections it was suddenly an hour later and I had done the initial gluing. 

Normally I start with an image based idea (tigers and circles, oh my) then a person pops into my mind and it builds upon both the original idea and the individual. This time it started with a person followed by a piece of ribbon...

The rough-ish composite with ribbon (the black and white, pastoral scenes (which is awfully full of beggars and crosses)), random magazine clippings and marker was confined under a  heavy coating of gel medium. (The sealing coat felt so thick I glued two more index cards onto this baby to reinforce it --- hence, this is also the piece that caused the post office lady to raise an eyebrow.)

I think I went a little wild with the marker and I can't remember my reasoning. I remember picking out the section of green and purple based on the feathery appearance of the plants then I picked out the pseudo-sun images thinking of faces the person (yes yes, one sun is grumpily frowning --- so does she, upon occasion, when people (that general mass of public person-hood who you don't really know but are still annoying), irritate her.). I do know why I kept going with the markers: trying to fix it after the first messy marker marks I had added. 


(Say messy marker marks five times fast....now look at your self in a mirror and repeat after me: "I am normal." If you can succeed in doing this last thing, I probably don't know you.)

At the center of this creation was the ribbon. I want to say it's French Provinical-ist but I'm not sure that's the right term (sounds cool)  but it is an older design with a European feel to it. I began to pull from my random clipping file (a large manila envelope in which I have stuffed willy-nilly stuff I've clipped out) that would let me create a  modern countryside setting for the ribbon. 


My favorite touch to this is the fact that I didn't use a strip of ribbon but cut it up and dispersed its elements. I rarely stray too much from my comfort zone or routine and each time I've reached for ribbon in the past, (kind of the future for you, dear reader, as some pieces I am referring to have yet to be posted) I end up using a strip of the stuff. Now I just want to see what I can do if I cut the ribbons down to their smallest design.

Well, that's my Modern Pastoral (or as I sometimes think of it, Hill's Modern Pastoral). Anyways, I have repeatedly delayed posting this because I have nothing conclusive to say, nothing profound or meaningful, no moral to wrap up this tidbit. 

(I really wish I had Wakko, Yakko and Dot's Wheel of Morality in order to conclude this post. Something totally randoms that makes no sense whatsoever fits my mood.)

Crude?

Needless to say, (which is a very silly phrase because if it was true I wouldn't waste my time saying it.) I managed to mail off something this Thursday. (Probably not a needless to say thing really as there was just as good chance that I wouldn't because deep inside me, okay not deep, is a lazy person. For instance, it took two weeks to get up the energy to put my recycling in the car trunk and then another two weeks for me to make it to the recycling center.) So there will be another post coming with a new piece to display. Eventually (you know when I get up the energy from my lazy self to do it.)

Until then you are stuck with the following thoughts.

When I stopped by the post office, the lady behind the desk once again examined the piece, giving off the vibe of " I don't know if this will make it". As she held it, she ran a finger over the edge where the layers of index cards used to create the piece were visible. I just widened my eyes and used innocent face as if I couldn't understand the concerns she was trying, non-verbally no less, to express.

(I, of course, have always assumed I do a good innocent, or as others may call it, playing dumb face. Some would say it comes naturally. I don't talk to those people too often.)

I ended up looking over what I have lying around at home. It's all pretty crude work and I thought about what I would have to do to make it better, refine it a little, produce work that had if not more class, a more finished air.

That lasted about a second before I mentally shrugged it away...no sense in trying to be something I'm not.

Work in Progress

I am currently working my way through the Charlie Parker series by John Connolly and the art side of my life is slowing down, but just a bit. I have three pieces hanging out in the house, under books or drying in the sun or stalled due to mediocrity (as defined by me...after all who's opinion matters more).

Also due to my work schedule I'm locked in to sending some stuff out on Thursday, my day off. Of course I don't know which ones to send, who to send them to or if I can really consider them finished...

But here's my mental list of what is sitting around the house...

1. Keyhole collage
2. Modern Pastoral
3. Trees, attempt number 1
4. Champagne & Dorothy Parker

(I know not the most descriptive of lists, although the trees one is pretty easy to connect some dots on...)

Only one has a definite person to which it will be sent....so the conclusion here is I need to get in gear and do some things.

I don't know if this is a thing or a feeling or a consequence (which are all things of a sort huh? I speak English I swear) but sometimes when I pick up a piece and do a touch here or there on it or sort through the scraps I've already clipped out of a magazine I can end up creating something totally new. No planning, no thinking that "I'm going to create a new piece..." Just a hmmmmm and oh, and how 'bout that and suddenly I realized I've been working for a long time (ignoring the rerun of NCIS playing in the background) and I have a whole new project started...It's one of those good feelings.

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

So previously I mentioned that I had this idea for a circle shaped piece and since it's been received it is now eligible for posting....

Below is Spirit Animal. It's (another) one of the pieces that didn't turn out exactly as I imagined it. I thought of having the tiger background with all these orchid and exotic flower cut outs dotting it. However, my lack of patience did me in, (I could only cut out so many flowers before the peaceful delicate blooms made me very very angry with an exacto knife in my hand) and then what I did have didn't look right (too many flowers (heh) and very gaudy).

So without the number of blooms I'd imagined and unhappy with its appearance....I thought about the person I was planning to send it to and got this:

A tiger with a flower barrette. (Of note: I used another piece of card paper to back this when scanning....)

This is made from coral colored card stock, a tiger graphic from a newspaper-like thingy and magazine flowers. I started with a plain old glue stick and end up warping it when I applied the gel medium, which I swiftly combated by smoothing it back out and then layering on gel medium (thicker than any makeup used on Broadway...including Cats. In fact, if you see the white-ish looking sections above is where it wasn't completely dry when I scanned it).

In a way it really is more than simply a tiger with a hair trinket especially when I think of its title, Spirit Animal, together with the image of this fierce tiger with the flower in its hair. I had one of the moments where I was layering on the gel medium, thinking of the receiver and it was just seemed so perfect.

This was a fierce person who can be extremely restive or boldly defending and has a feminine style which is a part of her that isn't as blatant as the rest of her tiger-ish personality but is there in more subtle smaller things. (Note: I don't mean style simply in the clothing sense or physical appearance. I would explain it more but I can't...it's that French saying, a certain je ne sais quoi. (Do I automatically sounds smarter by using a French phrase? My guess is no because with my luck I used it incorrectly...))

Time to throw a little deep, or not so deep ("after all you expect the puddle to deepen, into...I don't know,  a deeper puddle..." some book I read some time), thought into this:

I think the hardest thing to reconcile is the difference between how you see your self and the way other people perceive you. Often times you can miss all the good when you look in the mirror (which is probably okay sometimes because if you thought you were the most fabulous creature every time you looked in the mirror, you'd be unbearable to be around).

Anyways. I guess it comes down to Spirit Animal being a positive representation of a friend.... I like it and it turned out better than I had imagined.

Second Chances

I don't know if the difference will be apparent here but I used the IF piece to play with the gel medium I bought to seal some of my collage work...

Of note: I should have paid more attention to the comments on warping  caused by the mix of medium and water. It produced a thin, shiny coat but was not exactly what I wanted. So after that first coat dried and then spent some time under my over-sized art books, I did another thicker coating of the medium with no additive. Resulting in the above image...

Note the damage because I have no patience and the collage stuck to every damn thing....

I've gotten a bit better but only a bit, as you will see when I post the piece that started my investigation into sealing and glossiness.

Evil Laughter Everywhere

I've official finished two more pieces which will be winging their way toward their final location. Of course since these people may actually read this blog, there is a delay in full feature posts on these pieces at this point.

(This is unlike Walk? which was sent to someone who hadn't read the blog, and in fact still has not read the blog even though they did get the piece. It hurts a little inside. Sniff.)


More to the point, while one piece has been posted but the recipient doesn't know they are getting anything and the piece got a nice glossy finish (as well as picking up some damage from my inept gluing). As for the other, the recipient doesn't know what they are getting....hence my evil laughter. (Okay so it's totally in my head but still, it follows me everywhere and when I think about what I'm mailing it increases in volume.)

I beginning to wonder if I get more joy from sending things out to random unknowing targets then actually being a real mailartists and participating in calls...

(Also, I might, just might have told my friend with the night sky piece that it wasn't important they read the blog....but there's no proof I said this as I deleted that text message and I doubt they saved it. Time for more evil laughter.)

Muwhahahahahahaha.....