Monday, August 11, 2008

Art Unraveled-The Missing Pics

Hidden Layers with Traci Bautista-Part 2

I don't believe I shared these papers we prepared Thursday night. Above was random writing using chisel tipped Sharpies on tissue paper. You can barely make out the fine tip Sharpie poster paint marker but it's there. I didn't know what to write and I happened to have some sheets of pages torn out of a novel. I copied a sentence or two and repeated it over the whole sheet.Traci had some cool stamps and texture plates. There was a bottle of black gesso on my studio table so I threw it into my bag while I was packing my things for Traci's class. I used it to stamp on the tissue. It has a slightly more flat, chalky hand than acrylic paint. I have a date with the copy machine tomorrow to manipulate the print, (reduce it, enlarge it, make tranparencies, overlap them...)

I finished off last night's post with the view of my papers right before we broke for lunch on Friday. When we returned Traci demonstrated how she collages using papers created earlier in the day. She uses scissors to cut her shapes that are then applied to the substrate we made from papers and modeling paste the night before. (I point this out because Leighanna Light says she never uses scissors but tears her papers. Everyone has their own thing. That's so cool).

Although it wasn't part of Traci's demo on Thursday, I'd taken the modeling paste and stencils and added some dimension to my canvas/substrate. Not a problem but it made it harder to glue papers smoothly. My solution was to work around the raised areas or use tissue weight papers.

Traci's funky flowers, hearts, houses and faces are recognizable. I decided to play with color and shape on my pieces. Paint was dry brushed and highlighted some of the stencil/stamped patterns.
While I worked, I was thinking about what I wanted the end result of these pieces to be. The above piece is going to be used as a journal cover.
I'm not sure what the plan is for this one but none of the pieces are complete yet. Finishing off will include some time at the sewing machine.
I got up to take a break and look around and I feel in love with Jane's pieces. I went back to my work and took this one and made a house. The orange triangular shape was already glued down and it became the decoration for the house that grew under it.

During class someone asked how you knew when a piece was done. Traci said when we got to that part to set it aside and work on another and then come back to the first piece. Simple but true. I worked on 3 pieces at a time and would come to a point where I didn't know what to do next so I set that one aside and would come back to it. If I did that in my studio I might not get so stuck and could end up accomplishing more.

I took an intensive 2 day workshop with Traci a couple of years ago. As a result no painted paper towel ends up in the trash without careful consideration. I can't wait to let all the new knowledge germinate and became a part of my own art vocabulary.

Mini Art Quilt with Beryl Taylor-

Drool, drool, drool...that's what I do when I look threw Beryl Taylor's book, Mixed Media Explorations. I wasn't sure whether I'd be able to attend the class since I hadn't been able to find a sitter for the Chicklet but there must have been good vibes in the air and a solution was found. Thank you Linda, Andee and Ashley!

The class was quite a change from all the piles of papers and layering of paint from the previous classes. We started out with stitching on a piece of silk. My choice was limited to the red and off white I'd brought. Digging through my studio was a dash for anything red, white or black.
I'm not a quilter but grew up sewing and around sewing. The hand stitching was relaxing and meditative. After the background was stitched we worked on the edges of the fabric paper and decorating the tag. Binding was stitched around the edges, I only finished two sides before I started working on the puffy heart.

Oh my, it is a simple technique but by sequins were tiny so it took 3000 more stitches to fill! (I don't exaggerate...much). It was finished off with black bugle beads to get done and to create more visual interest. By this time I had a little company that kept asking, "Mom are you done yet, can we go to the gift shop?" On the upside, I had a helper to assist with clean up.
All the different elements aren't attached yet. There's one crucial red bead left to add to the heart.

The finished piece measures approximately 6" x 7" which was too small scale to use the dingo ball trim from my stash. What a disappointment! Beryl suggested I could keep building onto the piece by adding horizontal strips to the top and bottom of this piece, then adding vertical pieces to the sides and so on and so on, changing the scale of it as a result.

Oh good, I'm not left with having to resort to trimming my car windows with my big red dingo balls to get some use out of them. Actually that might make it easier to find my car in a parking lot. Ooooohhhhh......I get it! That's why people hang dingo balls in their cars.

That's it for Art Unraveled 2008. I'm working on another post about Art Unraveled-The Aftermath, it's really more like, "Now what?"

My last day of Summer Break is 1/2 over and piles still reign all over the house. At least I'm not horizontal-then I'd never get up! We have our first appointment with the orthodontist today. The Chicklet thought she'd get braces TODAY. Nope, doesn't work that way. I'll be happy with a happy kid after her first day of school.
Marissa

1 comment:

  1. Hi M~
    I found your blog through a search for Anne Grgich. You took such cool classes!!! Awesome art and blog. You are able to do a bit of everything!

    ReplyDelete