refining...

A busy week in Artlandia!

Refinement continues on the wing -
This week, I glued and ironed the pieces together, and now that it's all together, we have official measurements:  41 x 30.5"

Work also continues on the unicorn. On the one hand, I was so excited to have all the pieces last week, but there's still much to be done before it's finished -this week, lots of painting and drawing trying to match the grays and add the lights and darks to give it a more dimensional look.

It's subtle, but adding a dark wash to the back leg pushed it back, while adding lights and darks to the
front leg pulls it forward.

I also shaped and refined along the seams to help the pieces blend together - here you can see the  finished (or close to finished?) seam moving in a rounded of diagonal from mid-lower left to upper right of the frame.

patterns within patterns

I also started toning and adding ink to the front, but the seams are not glued down yet as I think about the exact positioning

Work also continues on the 2 x 4 ft block for Cultural Chaos:

Excited to start carving inside the tree (with my toes for scale).

Trying to balance the larger view with the detail  -  I get pretty into carving the twigs - fun times, but also got to keep it moving to get it done on time.

  The last thing I did was something new - still in process, but potentially an exciting new direction.

A little background... I have been taking online courses (fingers crossed - for a certificate in graphics and animation). Last week I finished my second course, intermediate photoshop. It's funny, because this is a program I'm very familiar with (at least I thought I was :P ), but when I took the diagnostic test before starting the intro course, I barely passed - it's a complex program, and there was so (sooooo) much more for me to learn, and I'm glad I started with the intro course, because otherwise the intermediate one would have been way beyond me.  As it was, I needed to study pretty hard, and I'm happy to say I passed! It's taken several months of studying to get to this point, and now I'm excited to start using the new skills right away.

Now that my process has become a hybrid of digital and manual techniques, I wanted to try making some things for which the final process is digital, and I needed every bit of the recent studies to turn scans of my blocks and drawings into this lovely piece (custom brushes from blocks, adjustment layers, layer masks, smart objects, gradient masks, clipping masks...Eep!). The next step will be to have these digitally printed in a limited edition. (...onward!)

We like? O:)

On to creature updates -

This week Honey made her first trip to the conservation park with me!

Look at that face!  I think it was a hit :).

She also saw the pond for the first time (she went right in, as we
can see by her muddy little legs, then
had a blast running on sand for the first time.)

Continuing to work on "family unity."

Junior helping demonstrate the unicorn's pose

...and keeping my carving pillow warm.

While Junior was assisting in the studio, my elegant Princess has been sticking close to her favorite
 (which happens to be the sometimes heated) blanket  - is it me or do those eyes say - "You got a puppy, Human, I quit."
 (Or as I prefer to look at it - "she's thinking of retiring. " ;) ) After a decade of faithful studio assistance, if she wants to spend her senior kitty years getting lots of cuddles and brushing while  napping on "her " bed  and  looking out the window at the birds, that sounds good to me.

Look what bloomed in the garden this week :)!
So cool right?! - Starry night petunias - art/flower love

And we saw ducklings! (And my little Bear
was very good and stayed with me and did not
bark at or chase them).

Definitely still teething.

One ear all the way up mid-nap.

One last puppy story - because Honey is half Lab and half German Shepherd, I've been wondering whether her ears will point. From what I've read, the majority of lab/shepherd mixes' ears do not point, but it's possible.  If they are going to point, it may not happen until she's 5-6 months old, after she's done teething.  No one else who's seen her thinks her ears are going to point, but I'm not so sure. This past week especially they sometimes they go up, and she can definitely move them (like when she greets me in the morning they're folded up tight like a closed hand and back). Hmmmmmm - we'll have to wait and see.  I think she's the most beautiful puppy in the world, ears up, down, or in-between, but the suspense!  

Unicorn!

Unicorn!

We have a unicorn! 

Or, technically, we have two half unicorns...

and faith ;) 

 Lots of refinement to do (lots - a wash over the front leg, fixing all the seams, heightening...) but having all the pieces and having them all cut out is a big step [thumbs up!]

Early in the week I printed the body in two parts of 3 plates each (6 plates total).

 Then it was time to cut out and start assembling all the parts...small issue, I don't actually have the wall space for something this size, and even if I did, the walls are plaster, so I can't pin into them... so... I pinned them into foam core and hung the foamcore from a curtain rod with curtain rings for the front. For the back, I hung a line across the room and used clothes pins to suspend it in front of the window. It's not pretty, but it's up.

My elegant princess, roused from her human pillow, because the human had to photograph the back half at night so it wouldn't be back lit (oh the hazards of hanging directly in front of a window :P).

Jr. was ready the next morning when I got up to do refinements - she managed to keep my whole drawing board nice and warm (how does she know to sit on the carving pillow when I'm going to be carving, and on the drawing board when I'm going to be drawing?? - signs of a great assistant, always a step ahead :).

I continued refining the wing - working with white ink and color pencil so that the transitions between the sections are smoother

 
last week (L) this week (R)

In the primaries, I brought the pink forward and the yellow back to make a smoother gradient.

Adding little touches of white makes it vibrate - it's starting to hum like the best pieces do O:).

 I also continued working on the giant tree block for Cultural Chaos with Big Ink in June. (It's starting to feel very close - Eep!)  Thanks to some great photo tips from Lyell Castonguay, I set up the tripod and got some good process shots.  I think these are pretty funny - I'm actually carving here, so they're accurate in showing my concentration frown and idiosyncratic technique [I carve with both hands on the tool - it's weird, but it does ensure that I don't cut myself], also, I am covered in powder.

We can't close without a puppy update - Honey is growing so fast! I wanted to get a profile shot to show how long her legs are getting, but, being a very loving pup, she usually turns toward her human, so I caught her while she was preoccupied with breakfast ;) - that's my little bear at 12 weeks old [heart!]

Wings!

We have a wing!

next to last block of the primaries, 10 x 18"

     A busy week in Artlandia!  Now that it's May, it feels like the upcoming solo show at the Gertrude Herbert Institute of Art, June 24 - July 29 is just around the corner. On the one hand, I try to keep reminding myself that I already have a lot of work that is ready to go (there is no way that there won't be enough)...but... I always want to include the latest and greatest, and while that's not a bad thing, it's difficult to balance against all the logistical things that need attention during the lead up - photographing, listing, packing, transporting, figuring out the hanging, etc.                                                                                                     So, this week in an effort to reduce the number of irons in the fire - I decided to make a big push on the wings and try to finish the last two blocks, marble the paper, and print them (I didn't even proof them; they went straight onto marbled paper.)

Last Block!(!!) I saved the stripes for last :) 8 x 10"

This is the last of the primary feathers. I think it's pretty funny how I really started to feel like I was getting the hang of it...on the last one, Ha!

I also reprinted this block of the primary coverts, because I just wasn't sure about the color...

before - too gray

after - too pink? (...hmmmm, still thinking- maybe the third time's a charm?)

I also tried to move the life-scale figure toward completion - gluing and sewing the parts together.  

 

stitching from the back and front, gold thread with little knot between the stitches
I  didn't try to hide the stitches - instead, I tried to put them where they would be most useful structurally, but also add to the appearance.

I also sewed on this necklace made out of trim with plastic pearls and gem that I sewed on. I think this is funny because it's extra trim and cheap beads from the big box store, but I think it looks great. Like not hiding the stitches, I decided not to try to hide the seem at the neck, instead adding something shiny and sparkly nearby to distract from it.

and I think it sort of worked - at
viewing distance, the seam doesn't stand out as
much (and when it becomes visible,
 the cut along the neck makes
it even more reliquary-like ;) )

I loved seeing this on my last trip to New York during
my visit to the Cloisters - even though I was there to see the
 cards,  I couldn't help photographing this (and it's even
cooler in person,  because there are three of them close together.
I can never decide which is my favorite, but I particularly like
the necklace on this one -
A Reliquary Bust of St. Balbina, ca 1520-30,
Southern Netherlandish,
Metropolitan Museum New York, 67.155.23

In preparing to move onto the torso/arms section next week, I also realized that I never printed the hand on a press on toned paper (I hand printed a proof at VCCA).

In para-art news, I got to visit one of my happy places -  Samascott Nursery (so many flowers, and! they have delicious apples - the Ruby Frosts are particularly good this year.)

no color correction on this - it really looks like that (maybe that's what inspired the new pink in the feathers?)

 

I went because they carry a variety of black flowers (which I find fascinating), but while I was there, I couldn't resist the  safety orange and yellow stripes.

can't resist some well placed safety orange though

first black bloom of the season
(and I assembled the planter myself - thumbs up!)

In non-art news, little Honeybear is doing great - she's back to being her joyful and exuberant puppy self.

Honey loves to be held and snuggled - she
rests her chin on my shoulder and gives the  exhale/snort
that I've come to think of as her puppy-pur.
 On my Dad's (wise!) advice, I set up
the tripod and photographed, because pretty soon, it
will be hard to believe that she was ever this little.

next to her human (and her brush)

belly pets please!

Look at that face!

A little kitty-puppy story of how things are going on the "family unity" front...

My feline assistants continue to get plenty of love and attention. They've all gotten used to seeing each other, and I've been opening the baby gate into the kitchen in the evening while I do dishes and clean up the kitchen - Honey is usually sleepy after her walk and dinner, so she stays on her bed while Junior comes in and does a loop to check on things.  Honey was dozing when Junior came up and touched her nose to Honey's tail...then lept back when it started to wag - haha. She didn't run away, just looked at it in horror like it's Aliiiiive! And with that - we have first contact! :)