phase 6 - each art-thing is a responsibility, on-going

Developments in Artlandia since Tuesday?

made the final adjustments (the parrot's tail, the placement of the ants, a little work on the shadows) and submitted that application on time, on schedule (two thumbs up!)

:) just in case you're wondering about the rest of the portfolio - the final 10 (fingers crossed!):

Whew! And now that that's in...

A new block for a new piece - this one is framed between two sheets of glass, like an contemporary art/reliquary (haha). The design is loosely based on the coin I made this summer.

A feeling of deja vu came over me working on this, and then "O, um, wait, actually, I've done this before." (Yes - 3 other times, in August, March and February. 2013) Lol - 4th time's the charm? 

"Doctor, doctor, what's in my shirt" ;)

 But I have learned a few things since then...

 This version is printed  on lovely marbled paper
made earlier in the week to resemble heart tissue
under a microscope (Thanks go out to my Dad for this one!)

  Remembered to digitally mirror image
the prep drawing so that this time,
the print is anatomically correct.
[pats self on back]

After a day or two, I was ready to revisit some issues with the portfolio. I ended up pulling the otter to make space of detail shots. On the one hand, it was a little sad pulling it; but on the other, it's good to have pieces beyond the minimum and, in the end, I just felt like something about it wasn't quite right...So, phase 6! Trying to step up and fix it, I realized that it was the volcano (natural disaster) that I don't think was right for this piece - it needed a human-made something...

New power plant block

 Luckily, I have a file called "industrial c#$p," with dozens of photos from my train trips and travels ;)

I added red gouache to the banding on the smoke stacks
and am liking how they relate to the red and white stripes
on the hot air balloon :)

updated verion :)

I feel like this version is much better. It's hard to explain why exactly, but I don't feel like I'm taking nature scenes and mucking them up with industrial stuff; to me, it feels more like the opposite - that the destruction/potential for disaster was always there (that's why I start with the gray marbled paper - a sky full of ashes.) It's more that I'm trying to see/share beautiful moments of "aliveness" that happen amid and in spite of chaos and destruction (and are therefore even more precious). [Hmmmmm.]

I kept going with the plant experiment from 2 weeks ago:

decided that the gold ink wasn't meant
for the  stem/leaves, carved a little more
 and re-printed in grey 

But I didn't give up on the gold completely...after some thought,
I think it's the flowers that are meant to be gold. New flower block
and (fingers crossed!) a good ink mix for the gold :).

starting to come together and get an idea of how it
might look...

Also, kept going with the animals, though I'm not sure how they'll come in to the work yet

Naturally, I think it would look even better with wings :)

Cute kitty picture, just because 

had a "moment" when I realized - this is the first time I've
killed an entire can of ink by myself [small tear of
pride - the little Arty is growing up!]

and a bird picture, also just because :)

In para-art news, I started reading a book about animals in visual culture - An Introduction to Animals and Visual Culture by Randy Malamud [Palgrave Macmillan, 2012]. On the one hand, I feel like I'm getting a lot out of reading this book in terms of thinking about animals in art in a new ways; on the other hand, I'm not sure I entirely agree with the author's views (but don't know enough to add anything to a conversation yet, more thinking/researching...) It also led me to a great article by John Berger (that my local library had on shelf - no need to request it - awesome!): John Berger, "Why Look at Animals," About Looking [Pantheon, 1980], which has been interesting, but challenging [hmmmmm.]