2012/365 - Day 159

trying out an idea -- round two

The paper dried as I hoped it would -- you can see color coming through it.  Now, how much more do I add?

Pretty much how he looked when I started this evening.

It is hard to see in the photos, but you can see the color under the paper.

I decided I needed to put on at least enough more paper to cover the little nicks in the paint.

I tore the paper more deliberately today...trying to fill in spaces.

Because I made this guy over another statue/form, he had pretty uneven surfaces.  I know nothing about muscle structure or where bulges should go -- but hey -- this is MY guy, I made him up...so it is all correct.

In a couple of places I had to rip the paper as I laid it into the glop so that it would conform to the surface imperfections.  Like yesterday, as it was drying I smoothed out as many air pockets as I could.

Heh -- he trusts me.

I added a good coat of matte medium over the unpapered surfaces to even things out and to keep the rest of the paint in place...hopefully.

The little guy tries to reassure him that the matte medium dries clear.

AND -- I cleaned up my mess yet again.  (I think this might be a new routine!)

2012/365 - Day 158

trying out an idea

Because I made this guy for  --> ME <--  I feel like I can keep trying things out on him until I finally stumble upon a look that I like -- if I don't like it I can always change it...but I hope this works.

I really love this guy.  But I really messed him up when I spray painted his undercoat(s).  Then after that he really really got messed up when I sprayed the varnish on his antlers and it was too humid out and it gunked up and got cloudy in areas.

I like the "oh no...now what?" look from this angle.

Well...I will tell you "now what" buddy...

I have several sheets of this way cool decorative paper (I really ought to look it up to see what it is called) with these neat inclusions in it.  

The surface of the spray paint rubs off if you touch it...it just balls up and poofs off...you can see down to the plaster cloth in this photo.

I am hoping that I will be able to see some color through the paper when it dries.

I applied a lot of matte medium -- I wanted the paper to get very wet.  I tore a strip in a somewhat triangle shape so that it would follow the curves and bumps of this guy's surface.  

Next I slathered on more matte medium and really pounced the (now disposable/cheap) brush, pushing the glop into the paper.

Eeeeeew -- what mess...it's a whole new material...LOL

You can see the paint and paper fiber in the (now) frothy matte medium.

The I-don't-know-about-this look.

You can see the paint specks in the froth.

I left it sit for a bit to really soak in, then I smoothed it out as carefully as possible.  I wanted to get as many air pockets out as I could but I wanted to avoid overworking the paper and tearing it.  

I deliberately left unpapered sections so it might look like stripes...we'll see.  

I am also hoping that the matte medium will dry on the painted parts and hold on the paint.

And look -- I cleaned up the mess!  Wow!

I am excited to see how this dries. 

2012/365 - Day 26

time to get back to wet work

Now that the cat-creature is done and in the varnishing stage, I am ready to get back to some wet plaster cloth work -- yay! It feels like it has been ages since I worked on anything.


Remember this guy? Here is the very first day I worked on him.

He has changed quite a bit since then. Today he still needed a bit of tweaking.

















I needed to fill in some "valleys" and smooth him out.

















I like this guy so much!













He is looking better now...it is hard to see in the first picture, but he was looking like he'd been in a fight and had chunks missing or something.

I worked on him enough tonight...my fingers are all pruney.

I had almost forgotten what it is like to work on something "small". Trying to smooth the plaster cloth in tight spots was a bit of a challenge...but it felt good.

He still has a few spots that need fixing and I have to figure out what the base is going to do. I also need to plot out how I will work on him so that I am not making more trouble for myself. I need to figure out in what order things need to happen.

365 Day 360 -- part 3

maybe these???

Maybe this is the guy that these antlers/horns were made for -- hmmm...




I tried the pieces in a billion combinations, and this is how they look the best.

They are temporarily taped on for the photos...I can hear the tape releasing from over here...LOL.












I think with these horns/antlers that this guy could maybe be some sort of deep woodland elemental...like a guy from M:tG.

365 Day 360 -- part 2

looking at some eyes

It is funny to me how much the look of the face changes with different sized eyes, and with the other elements added. (I think the reason the small eye looks somewhat better is because of that pesky black marker mark on the plaster cloth, giving it an outline.)



small eye, unpainted












small eye, painted














medium eye, painted












large eye, painted
















small eye, large pointy horn, small pointy ear













small eye, large pointy horn, short rounded ear












small eye, stubby horn, short rounded ear













small eye, stubby horn, long pointy ear














medium eye, stubby horn, long pointy ear











large eye, stubby horn, long pointy ear










To me in these photos, the small eye makes the guy look like a slightly more "real" creature. The medium eye makes him look a little surprised and the large eye makes him look like a stuffed animal.

365 Day 360

how do I look?

This morning I have been playing around with possible looks for the repurposed horse statue creature. I don't know what I am going to do with him yet. This is just a small sample of the photos I took and the different combinations of horns and ears.



plain
















Shadows on the plaster cloth suggested placement of eyes, nose and mouth...but it probably won't stay like that.



wide-spaced long pointy horns + long rounded ears













short rounded ears + long curved horns



















long rounded ears + stubby horns

















ridiculously large cat-ish ears placed to the side of the head + stubby horns












pointy ears + long forehead horns











short rounded ears + backwards tilting long pointy horns














short rounded ears











stubby horns become short pointy ears











I am starting to like the idea of glow-in-the-dark Fimo horns of some sort.

365 Day 358

keeping busy

Most of my daytime was spent taking things out of my studio that I don't absolutely have to have right in front of me and taking them down to the basement (now that I have room after the giveaway/clear out). I set up two of the 6 ft. white tables and stacked bins on them. I sorted out more things in the studio and by the end of the day I felt like I had accomplished a lot.


Ha -- I think I have finally made pretty darn good use of this storage rack thing. That second shelf has 10 small, sorted out bins on it...AND...I can see into them. Yay.















This linoblock taunts me every time I sit at the computer. I want to carve, but I have to do it in short bursts. I am not so sure anymore that this is totally salvageable, but I am going to keep working on it.










I really like these characters that came out of the automatic drawings in my sketchbook.

I have been wanting to try to make a large-sized one out of plaster cloth, but for now I will be content with...






...this guy filling in as a trial piece.

You can see how this broken up horse statue started out by looking
here and here.










So, this guy mocks me on the "save it for later" shelf daily. Tonight -- inspired by the guys on the linocut block -- I thought I'd give it another go.











The problem I was having previously (I think) was the tilt/turn of the horse's head/neck.












Coming off of the recent lesson(s) with the Scott's Xtreme Rags I decided to try to free form this guy tonight. I just let the rags and tape tell me how to do it.










I was kinda liking the look of this when the nostrils appeared...










...but then (apparently) the guides returned and took over. I was half-feeling like that first nose tonight was looking too horse-like and that I was being kind of cheaty pants-y.


I like this one much better...plus, I am not sure how it will turn out in the end.

And look how much his head is turning -- I was having so much trouble with that before!




I didn't stop to take photos because my hands were reeeeeally plaster-y and because I was working pretty wet so that I could hold the neck in place while it firmed up. (I know that doesn't seem to make sense, but it makes sense to me and if I look back at this I will know what I meant.)










Oooh -- I love that turning head!














In each of these photos I can see a different kind of face.

He is going to need ears. I don't know yet if he is shaggy or smooth or furry or just skin. Will he have horns? Tusks?














another view















Awww...look at his little mouth in this picture...so cute.













Yep, yep, yep...I like this guy now!