Day 287 - 365/2014

Day Two Hundred Eighty-Seven

Terri has been making labels and wrappers for me for my Animal People series for Art-o-mat.  My old photo program was finally deleted/made obsolete and I haven't been able to do any of that on my own because I am just not computery.  Terri finally convinced me that in the same way that some stuff is easy for me, that designing and computer stuff is easy for her and that it would help her to "let" her make my stuff because she will be making labels and placards and stuff for her series, too.  So anyway -- Terri came over today with the labels and we sat and worked on them.  Terri wanted to cut and I glued.  Then Terri wanted to hang around a bit and cut out the wrappers, too...so we talked and talked and talked while she cut and cut and cut.  

I haven't used paper wrappers on my series before.  The glue on the back labels needs to dry more before I can wrap the blocks with the wrappers.  Then they will get wrapped in cellophane.  But I still have quite a bit to do first -- they all need to be scanned and signed.  We pulled out a few we wanted to keep (along with Franciney and Juana) and I am trying to decide if I will make more collages to replace those or if I will just send in a set of less than 100 pieces...we'll see...I am leaning towards making replacements.

Thank You SO much, Terri...I couldn't have done this without your help!  And I really enjoyed the talking and drinking coffee, too.

Day 67 - 365/2014

Day Sixty-Seven

I assembled five more Animal People collages today. 

Day 42 - 365/2014

Day Forty-Two

I am a member of the Exhibit Committee at the Northville Art House.  My two main projects for 2014 are assisting on "West of Center" and running/coordinating "Menagerie"...two all-media juried open calls for art.  There is a lot of work to do with both shows (but this is the stuff I LOVE doing the most) and both of the shows will be here before I even realize it.  Much work to stay on top of.

Today involved tweaking/rewriting the Call for Entry form and also first-drafting a juror biography...as well as getting timelines onto a working calendar and figuring out deadline dates for key parts of each show.  Ellen (the Chairperson of the Exhibit Committee) came over this morning and we got a lot of stuff done.  Ellen is the person who also handles the postcards and banners and gets things to the printer.  She is the person in charge of the overall calendar and the Call for Entries forms.  And while she was here we talked over the idea(s) I have for the banner image for Menagerie.  Still a long way to go on that one, but we have more of a concept hammered out.  I feel good that my original first-choice idea "won" over my second-choice.

Tonight I've been working on some more of the Animal People collages.  I want to keep working after I've posted to the blog tonight.

And I have until tomorrow at one (or so) to try to come up with hearts for these two guys before I take them back to the Northville Art House store.  So far they are really resisting getting hearts...this is much tougher than I thought it would be!

Day 35 - 365/2014

Day Thirty-Five

Darn allergic reactions!  (And it isn't just me...I know several people experiencing this same sort of thing.)

I had a short burst of creative energy earlier in the afternoon.  I have a total of seven (of one hundred) Animal People collages made now.

I KNOW there is a bottle of milk in here somewhere -- two maybe!

Ha -- there it is!

It is funny to me how much the look of the creature changes as you swap out backgrounds.

And then I ended up not using one of these four.

Yay -- seven of one hundred!  I don't usually do this many Animal Kids...I even have a few more I could make.

Okay -- now I can take a dose of Benadryl and not worry about missing my deadline if I should happen to fall asleep in front of tv.

Day 34 - 365/2014

Day Thirty-Four

Today and tonight I've been cutting images, making phrase labels, cutting more images, and finally putting one collage together.

Day 18 - 365/2014

Day Eighteen

Today/this evening was for thinking about (non-Arto) Animal People, Juana started on a new felting project, we went through a bunch of my Arto-collection, Juana gave me some faint outlines for the striding bear guy's head, and then when Juana left I "erased" old lines from the canvas, then went back to thinking about non-Arto Animal People on/in boxes.  Whew!

I was thinking (before Juana arrived) that I want to try to use some of the nice frames I have already and fit the art into the frames rather that fit the frame around a piece of art.  These are some of the Animal People I put together recently that are too large for the Art-o-mat blocks.

Juana arrived -- and she brought the incredible Krampus doll that she felted over the holiday.  She says he still needs a few accessories -- but wow -- isn't he fabulous?!!!

"Hold him like a baby, Juana."

"No...all the way scooped up like a baby."

yikes!

Juana set up in my basement to work on a new felting project.

I "helped" by transporting the hot water downstairs as she needed more.

This is the project she is working on -- a New England boot tray...and yes, the recipients do live in New England...I asked.

Covering the middle layer now.

Using a swimming pool floaty tube thing to help with the rolling process.

And now in the other direction.

Checking on the felting progress.

Later...back upstairs...time to go through my Arto-collection.  Juana and I first discovered Art-o-mat together...it is only fitting she should get first crack at some of my older collection.

Yay -- Juana is taking home quite a few pieces of my Arto-collection!

And now...to give me some pointers on reshaping the striding bear guy's head.  Juana made a faint white outline for me to follow...she also suggested making his whole head area larger...I agree.

I need to "erase" some of the other/older upside images from the canvas...but you know I didn't want to paint it out.  We talked about probably using layers of the same papers that are already in the collage to cover up the tell tale marks.

I started with some yellow mulberry paper...but it didn't cover the marks up too well...although I did want to get some more yellow into the picture.

A little bit of pinkish mulberry paper helped blend in the yellow.

Then I used some of the less transparent papers and kept layering...it is still pretty wet in this shot, but it looks a lot better...the lines are pretty much gone.

And I took out the lines underneath his arm...as well as lightened his arm up a bit...another wet shot, the camera really didn't understand what I was trying to show it.

Ta-daaaa...there is still much more to do, but I am very happy with the amount of lines I was able to get rid of.

Hard to see it, but his head looks a whole lot better -- thanks for the outline, Juana!

And I brought a wooden box up from the basement -- I am thinking I'd like to make dimensional collages on the inside, maybe collage/decoupage the outside.  Maybe with the little cat girl in the pink dress on the outside and the cutie pie in overalls inside.

Or maybe this little cowboy puppy guy inside and one of those toy metal sheriff's badges outside... western theme.

Or maybe it is the rabbit kid's secret hideout.

I still have quite a few boxes downstairs...I would like to make a bunch of these "houses"...but then again, that means painting...yuck!