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.
Showing posts with label time. Show all posts
Showing posts with label time. Show all posts
26 April 2009
14 April 2009
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!
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!
26 March 2009
Finally, Making Something Again!
I have had it with all my stuff being in the garage (our house is on the market for sale). This afternoon I dug around in various boxes and found my toolbox, my Distress Ink pads, my Xmas gifts of some Tim Holtz items (game spinners, sprocket gears), and a few other things. Not too much, just a few things.
Then I made a chipboard clock using some Heidi Swapp items and following the directions on Tim Holtz's blog for the last Xmas tag of 2008 (steps 16-35). It was so much fun! Took about 10 minutes, but the result looked great and I had a neat embellishment for my project. Did I mention that my group's art challenge this month is "time"?
Since I don't have a lot of room or materials available, I am going to try to keep this month's project small. I have inked up a 3x4" canvas with Dried Marigold Distress Ink, then I used one of Tim's new masks and put Vintage Photo DI over the top. Now what I want to do is use some of his new stamps in the sets that have just become available at Michaels, but I can't find my acrylic mounts. Grrr.
It feels so good to be doing something again that is creative, that has a tangible end result--I love it, love it, love it. I feel fully alive again for the first time in two months. Must remember that this is necessary and make sure that it doesn't get shut down like this (of course, we hoped our house would sell faster and our stuff would come back out sooner than it has). But this is a good feeling, a feeling of accomplishment and engagement.
Then I made a chipboard clock using some Heidi Swapp items and following the directions on Tim Holtz's blog for the last Xmas tag of 2008 (steps 16-35). It was so much fun! Took about 10 minutes, but the result looked great and I had a neat embellishment for my project. Did I mention that my group's art challenge this month is "time"?
Since I don't have a lot of room or materials available, I am going to try to keep this month's project small. I have inked up a 3x4" canvas with Dried Marigold Distress Ink, then I used one of Tim's new masks and put Vintage Photo DI over the top. Now what I want to do is use some of his new stamps in the sets that have just become available at Michaels, but I can't find my acrylic mounts. Grrr.
It feels so good to be doing something again that is creative, that has a tangible end result--I love it, love it, love it. I feel fully alive again for the first time in two months. Must remember that this is necessary and make sure that it doesn't get shut down like this (of course, we hoped our house would sell faster and our stuff would come back out sooner than it has). But this is a good feeling, a feeling of accomplishment and engagement.
11 March 2009
Quotes about Time
And you run and you run to catch up with the sun but it's sinking.
Racing around to come up behind you again.
The sun is the same in a relative way but you're older.
Shorter of breath and one day closer to death.
- - - Pink Floyd "Time"
Lost, yesterday, somewhere between sunrise and sunset, two golden hours, each set with sixty diamond minutes. No reward is offered for they are gone forever.
- - - Horace Mann
[I have always liked this because it's in one of the Laura Ingalls books. I'm not sure "like" is the right word, exactly, but I have never forgotten it.]
"Veritum dies aperit" (Time discovers the truth)
Seneca De Ira
No one can possibly know what is about to happen: it is happening, each time, for the first time, for the only time.
(James Baldwin (1924-1987), U.S. author. (First published 1976). "The Devil Finds Work," sect. 1, The Price Of The Ticket (1985).)
Time is a great teacher, but unfortunately it kills all its pupils. Louis Hector Berlioz
“Great artists treasure their time with a bitter and snarling miserliness.”
Catherine Drinker Bowen
Racing around to come up behind you again.
The sun is the same in a relative way but you're older.
Shorter of breath and one day closer to death.
- - - Pink Floyd "Time"
Lost, yesterday, somewhere between sunrise and sunset, two golden hours, each set with sixty diamond minutes. No reward is offered for they are gone forever.
- - - Horace Mann
[I have always liked this because it's in one of the Laura Ingalls books. I'm not sure "like" is the right word, exactly, but I have never forgotten it.]
"Veritum dies aperit" (Time discovers the truth)
Seneca De Ira
No one can possibly know what is about to happen: it is happening, each time, for the first time, for the only time.
(James Baldwin (1924-1987), U.S. author. (First published 1976). "The Devil Finds Work," sect. 1, The Price Of The Ticket (1985).)
Time is a great teacher, but unfortunately it kills all its pupils. Louis Hector Berlioz
“Great artists treasure their time with a bitter and snarling miserliness.”
Catherine Drinker Bowen
Initial Thoughts on Time
Back to me to pick this month's challenge for our group--I went with "time". None of us seem to have any right now, so it seemed appropriate!
While at a mandatory seminar last weekend, I jotted down some notes and thoughts on the topic; here they are.
To begin, I need to decide if I'm going to look at time as neutral, as an enemy--prisoner of time, a limiter--or as positive. And personal level or society level?
Could do a family tree/genealogy theme. Or could use the fog of time that obscures things, yet sometimes it's only time that brings true clarity.
Incorporate mirrors (small ones) here and there in the piece, because you can't escape time, it is relentlessly objective, there is no appeal--it shows you what is, no escaping.
Also use an hourglass somewhere, or the shape of one? Could get the sand medium to use on part for "the sands of time" (might be too cliched). Or could do some train tracks somewhere for "the tracks of time". Maybe just do an entire piece using common cliches about time! Ha.
What are the colors of time? Browns, golden, iridescence, sand medium around edges.
What are the patterns of time? circles, spirals (use the new technique just learned with wireworking to make some--could use in the border)
Elements to use:
chains
mesh
mirrors
sepia tone
spirals
words/quote on side running off the edge
Find a quote about time--something that addresses how it imprisons and frees us at the same time.
Could do a progression--distressed at top, progressing down to pristine images--passage of time.
Could make a memento box with tiled top (and sides?)--would have to use all manufactured tiles. Idea from Mixed Media Mosaics.
Shapes of piece:
grandfather clock: a portrait rectangle with a circle hanging below it from a chain (chains of Time).
hourglass: two landscape rectangles with circle in middle
other: square on top, circle in middle, triangle on bottom (could use past, present, future in triangle)
While at a mandatory seminar last weekend, I jotted down some notes and thoughts on the topic; here they are.
To begin, I need to decide if I'm going to look at time as neutral, as an enemy--prisoner of time, a limiter--or as positive. And personal level or society level?
Could do a family tree/genealogy theme. Or could use the fog of time that obscures things, yet sometimes it's only time that brings true clarity.
Incorporate mirrors (small ones) here and there in the piece, because you can't escape time, it is relentlessly objective, there is no appeal--it shows you what is, no escaping.
Also use an hourglass somewhere, or the shape of one? Could get the sand medium to use on part for "the sands of time" (might be too cliched). Or could do some train tracks somewhere for "the tracks of time". Maybe just do an entire piece using common cliches about time! Ha.
What are the colors of time? Browns, golden, iridescence, sand medium around edges.
What are the patterns of time? circles, spirals (use the new technique just learned with wireworking to make some--could use in the border)
Elements to use:
chains
mesh
mirrors
sepia tone
spirals
words/quote on side running off the edge
Find a quote about time--something that addresses how it imprisons and frees us at the same time.
Could do a progression--distressed at top, progressing down to pristine images--passage of time.
Could make a memento box with tiled top (and sides?)--would have to use all manufactured tiles. Idea from Mixed Media Mosaics.
Shapes of piece:
grandfather clock: a portrait rectangle with a circle hanging below it from a chain (chains of Time).
hourglass: two landscape rectangles with circle in middle
other: square on top, circle in middle, triangle on bottom (could use past, present, future in triangle)