Day: February 13, 2006

Art, Photography

Easy-peasy Monoprints

Shelly

100_1308

I sometimes use this method to create backgrounds. It can also be used to create full-blown works of art.

Start by laying down a sheet of freezer paper, shiny side up. Secure it with tape. Then, apply acrylic paint to the freezer paper “plate.” You can move it around with a brush, fingers, etc. This time, I used a credit card to smooth the paint and mix it slightly. When you have the paint where you want it, lay your paper face down onto it and burnish gently with your hands. Be careful not to move the paper, or the design will smudge and smear. Gently pull the paper away and lay it flat to dry. You’ll need to re-“ink” the “plate” with additional paint between pulls. If you want to change palettes, you can scrape and wash the remaining paint off the “plate” or you can just toss it and start over with a fresh sheet of freezer paper.

Uncategorized

FlambĂ© is NOT the Answer!

Shelly

Squick Alert!

I watched Cabin Fever last night. Which was probably not a good idea. Not that the movie isn’t good. It is! It’s Friday the 13th meets Texas Chainsaw Massacre, with David Lynch-style surreality and Troma-style absurdity. It’s funny, smart, and creepy as hell. It’s one of the very best horror movies I’ve seen, and I’ve seen a lot of horror movies.

Anyway, I suspect that’s what lead to a night of strange dreams.

I had some weird-assed dreams last night. In one of them, I was hanging out with a group of friends near the loading dock of one of the buildings on campus. There was another group of students across the parking lot from us, with two Husky puppies, which were playing. One of my friends dropped a piece of sausage from his sandwich. I could tell that the puppy saw the food fall, but he was too interested in playing to come get it just yet. Eventually, he trotted across the parking lot to get the sausage, but a guy suddenly appeared from behind a delivery truck, reaching out and grabbing the dog. He swung the dog around in circles on the end of a leash. Where the leash (or the guy!) came from, I haven’t a clue. C’est la logic of dreams. When the dog hit maximum velocity, the guy let go of the leash, catapulting the dog out of scene. My friends and I were both seriously creeped out and royally pissed off. Realizing that the guy was a dangerous psychopath, we decided to leave. On the way, one of my friends doused the guy with lighter fluid (again, where on earth did it come from?) and set him on fire. My response was, “Dude, flambĂ© is NOT the answer!”

And then, of course, I woke up.

Art

The Raising of an Old Hope

Shelly

Vessels: The Raising of an Old Hope
Vessels: The Raising of an Old Hope
oil pastel on 90lb Stonehenge paper with bones, hair, brass brads, and copper wire
11 1/4 x 9 1/2 inches

I meant to play around with making a pinhole lens for my 35mm camera, but I didn’t end up getting to it. The weather turned kind of gross–cold and grey and snowy–so I stayed inside and made art. Not that it was terrible out or anything, not like what the east coast is experiencing (25 inches of snow?!), but I just didn’t feel like doing much of anything. Instead, I spent the day drawing while watching some awful movie about a 16th century Venetian courtesan on WB (ah, apparently it was called Dangerous Beauty) and a biography of Anne Boleyn on PBS. That was an odd juxtaposition!

And, now, the weekend is over. Hrmph. They always speed by too quickly, and there is never enough to show for the time spent.