the story behind the art

Last week, Thursday, I oozed enthusiasm because I was in the midst off creating what I deemed would be my signature piece.  By Friday, it was hard for me to contain my excitement.  But, I did!  This was my second day working on this project, I felt it was worth every minute of it.  I only showed two people the preliminary photos.  I used some of the mediums that I enjoy creating with the most ~ joint compound and hot glue.  The background began with a layer of joint compound for texture.  After it was dry I gave it a coat of matte medium to seal it then I painted several layers of acyclic paint followed by stenciling and mark making.  The flowers + stems + the hand + her face and neck are all from hot glue. (and yes, I burned my fingers a lot!)  I  painted all of these items with several layers of acrylic paint to get it "just right".   After all the pieces were done I laid it all  out on the canvas to determine the placements.  That's when I snapped the photo.   By this time I was so excited that I could actually feel my heart smiling, too!  I was in artistic heaven!!   Saturday was met with trepidation because it was time to complete the project by gluing it down.  We all know what it's like to do the final stage on a piece of art.  It can be daunting.  I pushed thru fear and glued everything down.  It all seemed like a walk in the park.  I carefully placed it in another room to dry overnight. When I checked it this morning the first words from my mouth was "Holy Shit!  What the f**k happened?" The rest I will not repeat!  She was a BIG  mess!!! All over her face and neck were bubbles.  It looked like she had cysts all over her.  My heart sunk!  Most of my day has been devoted to trying to resurrect my would-have-been signature piece.  Nothing I did was flattening the bubbles.   Later this afternoon I succumbed to the fact that it was useless to try any further.  So you may wonder if I was disappointed?  The answer is YES, I was.  Altho... I didn't cry.  After a short while I did what I know best, I got out my journal and started writing.  I wrote about how much and what this piece meant to me,  I relived the pure joy from several days ago when she looked awesome (to me), I wrote about my sadness that all the work seemed to be a waste of my time.  I evaluated what I can do technically different the next time.  Last, but not at all least, I wrote about what I was to learn from this experience.  So many personal and spiritual thoughts rose to the surface.  From the very depth of my heart I can say that I am grateful for this experience.  My signature piece still lives within me and one day will be exposed.  I will continue to show up and inspiration will find me working.

I was able to salvage her head.  Not sure what to do with it.

As the Terminator says:  "I'll be back!"