26 April 2009

General Musings

Haven't done anything more on "truth" lately.

I'm still trying to finish my "time" piece; I was unhappy with the background (too much One Step Crackle in a particular spot looked milky and didn't fit in with the rest), so I sanded it down and am trying again with different media. This time I painted it with a coffee bean acrylic undercoat, then a mixture of Golden Crackle Paste tinted with Jacquard metallic pewter. It's been curing for the requisite three days (worked out perfectly since I came down with a head cold two days ago), so tomorrow I'll take a look at it and see if that will work.

Truth still seems to me like something I'd like to have that is seen differently from different angles. Question is how best to achieve it? Put something in a box and have each box decorated differently--stained with alcohol inks, tissue paper, mesh, etc.? Should one be able to lift the box or top off to see what is really inside? I think the answer to that is yes. Now, what should I have in the box??

Oooh, wouldn't it be neat to have something in the box that even when the walls are lifted away and the thing is revealed, you still can't be sure exactly what it is? Now what could I come up with for that? Perhaps that's something for another day when I have more expertise.

Now at least I have something I can go with--can get one of those square display cases at Michael's to use and alter it as necessary. Just have to figure out what to do with the sides and top--that's five things. Perhaps one should be opaque. What if have the top be opaque and the sides done with different palettes of alcohol ink? That's at least a good place to begin.

16 April 2009

(Only a Few) Quotes about Truth

This is an interesting one:

Most truths are so naked that people feel sorry for them and cover them up, at least a little bit. --Edward R. Murrow

That could be quite fun to put into pictorial form, although that's not really how my brain works, but it gives lots of possibilities with the light shining through obscurity. Even go literal and use a woman's full-on nude image, being covered up by things. Go political and make it a burka.

Wow, I'm finding lots of insightful quotes about truth, but nothing that sparks any kind of imagery. Most are all intellectual. I may just go back to the ideas from my last entry and work from there. I did quite like something from Virginia Woolf, who said that "if you do not tell the truth about yourself you cannot tell it about other people". That ties in with my mirrors theme that came up last post.

Now this one from Oscar Wilde is interesting: "“Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth.” I like the idea of masks, although of course I don't have any supplies (stamps, molds) to use for it! Of course I'd be attracted by something that requires buying more stuff! But it's also what this blog is about, since no one I know has the URL for it, unlike my family blog or Facebook account. I am truly free to write here without wondering whether someone in my family will think I'm pretentious, deluded, or just egocentric. And that seems to be true for many people on the internet, although not always to their credit.

Now this would be a fun one to do by including these words by Aldous Husley as part of the piece: "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you mad."

Well, harrumph. I guess I'm going to have to muse on what truth means to me, but that will have to be another post.

14 April 2009

What is "Truth"?

So, A. has selected "truth" as this month's topic, and I may need to work quickly since we are halfway through April.

How does one illustrate truth? Or make a piece representing it? Could do a mirror with decorative mosaic edge. Ooh, could do a mobile with lots of glass tiles and miniature mirrors, because often truth requires finding little bits of it here and there and then piecing it together. Or along the same lines, do a puzzle (ornamental), perhaps with one piece left to put it. I am liking these ideas . . .

Let's see if I can come up with some that don't involve mirrors. Is truth something that blazes out at you, grabs you by the shoulders and shakes you, saying, "Here I am and you cannot ignore me!"? Or is it something quieter, that steals into your being and makes itself known over a period of time? As always, my question too is this: what color is truth? I don't think it's one of the primary colors--not subtle enough, not enough depth. Perhaps a blue, but why? Because of the blue in the sky, the blue of the water? Definitely not purple. Hmm, and I just contradicted myself, didn't I, since blue is a primary color. I guess I am thinking of a different kind of blue, one with clarity and depth, one with translucence.

Next thing I'll go looking for quotes again. I haven't yet used one, but I enjoy the thinking that comes along with finding them.

End of "Time"

Unfortunately, my group's get-together to show our "time" pieces had to be rescheduled . . . but the plus side of that is that I have a chance to redo what I mounted my piece on. Had a technique glitch with the DecoArt One Step Crackle; I got so frustrated that I wasn't getting the size crackle I wanted, so I poured on a huge lump of it and didn't smooth it down enough. When dry, there was surely a great big crackle in it, but it looked milky and didn't blend in with the rest of the background.

I guess I'm going to have to sand it all off and redo the layers--dark brown acrylic (and I think I'll do two coats this time instead of just one), then Tim Holtz's Brushed Pewter Distress Crackle, then a nice thick layer of the One Step Crackle. Once that's all dry, I'll use the Antiquing Solution. I also think I'll use a tack to mount the faux pendulum rather than a foam dot, which doesn't seem to be holding very well. I *will* get this right!