Category: Art

Art

Shrine (reworked, in progress)

Shelly

100_2277

I was really unhappy with this one, but it was out of sight and out of mind. I pulled it out earlier this evening, thinking that I might see if removing the old, bone “wings” and replacing them with a set of luna moth wings would help. How to attach them, though? Acrylic medium was out, because it would damage the delicate powder coating of the wings. I decided to see what beeswax would do. I hoped, because it could be poured onto the surface without using a brush, that it would protect the wings. It seems to have worked pretty well.

If all goes well, there will be a frieze of cicada shells running along the bottom. Like the luna moth wings, though, I need to figure out how to attach them. They’re light-weight and fragile, so they’re difficult to manipulate.

Bonus: the house smells like beeswax, which is divine.

Art, Doodles

Staff Meeting Doodles

Shelly

I got home to find that the electricity had been off since 1pm. It came back on at 6:30. With no AC for the afternoon, it was ungodly hot indoors. Ugh. I’d meant to spend time mowing, then installing a new DVD burner (a treat for petsitting), but that plan has been scrapped. Maybe tomorrow. In the meantime, I’ve scanned a couple of doodles from my work notebook.

I’m a compulsive doodler. I used to be self-conscious about it, because it makes me look inattentive, but the truth is that I listen more carefully if my hands are busy. I think that’s why I like to have the television on while I’m arting. The hands and the brain need to be independently occupied, apparently.

Staff Meeting Doodle

Staff Meeting Doodle
gel pen on paper
9 x 6 inches

Art

Happy Blow Things Up Day

Shelly

I’ve had four days off, and didn’t manage to accomplish anything useful. Now that’s a rare and wondrous talent. I did some laundry, some cleaning, some arting, and a whole lotta no mowing. It’s just been too damned hot to even think about it. It’s supposed to cool off tomorrow, though, so maybe I’ll suddenly get motivated. I don’t recommend holding your breath, though.

I did manage to get some writing done. Nothing fun, but I’d been meaning to add a few things to the Tutorials & Tips section of the website. I haven’t proofed it yet, and I’ve still got a bunch of topics to cover, but it’s a start.

And, Lordy! Here comes the rain. Eeep! I hope it doesn’t last all night, because I really don’t want to drive to work in the rain. Hrmf.

Art, Paintings

Tending Medusa

Shelly

100_2249
oil, oil pastel, and oil pencil on newspaper adhered to 90lb Stonehenge paper, with mirror and braided dress patterns and tissue paper
11 1/4 x 15 inches
3 July 2006

In Greek mythology, Medusa was one of the three Gorgon sisters. She began life as a beautiful maiden, but after becoming inadvertently entangled in the on-going rivalry between Athene and Poseidon, she was disfigured by Athene. Athene replaced Medus’s hair with a mass of writhing snakes, making her so frightful that all who gazed upon her were turned to stone. Medusa finally met her end when Perseus, using a polished shield as a mirror, beheaded her.

Art, Crankypantsing

A Little Knowledge…

Shelly

D’ya know what I hate? I hate it when folks insist on spreading misinformation. I especially hate it when, upon being challenged, they support their position with, “I’ve been teaching this subject for umpty years, so I know more than you do.” I’m sorry, but I don’t think it matters how long you’ve been teaching something. What matters is whether or not you ever bothered to become sufficiently educated on the topic in the first place.

Hrmf.

Folks, do not use acrylic medium as a final sealing coat. It’s not a varnish, and shouldn’t be used as one. It’s not impervious, it’s not protective, and it’s not reversible. And, while I’m on the general subject–for the love of God, do not ever put acrylic paint or medium over oil pastels.

Art, Paintings

In Progress, Part Deux

Shelly

It’s been a a month, exactly, since I started this one. The base coat was oil, so I wanted to give it plenty of time to dry before working on it some more. I also was feeling lazy, to be truthful. I’ve had two more goes at it, with oil pastels and oil pencils. I like the visual and tactile texture that’s beginning to develop, but it has a way to go yet.

100_2241
oil, oil pastel, and oil pencil on newspaper adhered to 90lb Stonehenge paper
11 1/4 x 15 inches
29 June 2006

I’m not sure what this little bowl will eventually hold. I’ve got some gorgeous luna moth wings (thanks, Pyewacket!) that I might combine with leaves. The problem is, figuring out how to adhere the wings without damaging them. I’m also considering something viney, perhaps hair and/or braided paper.

Art, Crankypantsing

Art History

Shelly

I love art history. I find it endlessly fascinating, because it encompasses just about every aspect of human existence. I realize that not everyone–not even, necessarily, other artists–are as enamored of art history as I am. So, it was gratifying to hear a friend mention that she’d been watching the BBC’s How Art Made the World on PBS. We had a brief discussion about human vs. animal perception, idealization (e.g. the Venus of Willendorf vs. the Kritios Boy), and the flow of artistic conventions from the Egyptians to the Greeks (Greek Kouros and Korai vs. Egyptian sculpture).

It was incredibly cool to watch her get it, and to see the sparks fly and the synapses connect. Folks, that is why art history is such an amazing thing to study. A good teacher can forever make a positive influence on the way his or her students view and interact with their world.

There are also bad teachers, who make their students want to hide under their desks and cry. Class, meet Professor StuffyPants. I managed to make it through two semesters of survey and one of Medieval before giving up on him. At the end of it, I felt like I deserved some sort of medal for perseverance. With profs like him, it’s no wonder that my fellow art students weren’t very interested in taking more than the bare minimum of art history classes.

He did a disservice to a huge number of students by disrespecting their intelligence and generally acting like a jackass. He had the opportunity to inspire hundreds of kids–art students, no less, who ought to have been an easy sell–but he wasted it. His students would have been better off with him telling them to go home and watch PBS, instead of attending his lectures.

Art, Drawings, Meta

This private thing

Shelly

My Flickr Pro account expired last month, and I neglected to renew it. Then, I got a bad case of the grumpies about it, so I stopped using it altogether. I suddenly decided this afternoon that that just would not do, so I renewed it and added a badge thingumy to my right sidebar. Ain’t it purty? I also created a smaller version of my gallery graphic and added that, too, cuz why the heck not?

Nude II
Nude, ink on paper, 24 x 18 inches

Then, since I was on a roll, and because I was suffering from an attack of OCD, I created a header graphic [1] and updated the style sheet for the main part of my website. Yeesh, was that ever a pain in the arse! I did finally manage to get something sorted out that is within the same general visual family as the blog and the gallery. I’ve checked everything in IE, Firefox, and Opera, and though there are various browser-specific quirks, everything seems to be basically functional. I don’t have Netscape (and their stupid download protocol makes it pretty much impossible for me to install it on my machine), so I can’t check that, but I’m hoping that nothing is too out of whack in that direction.

And, with that, I think I’ve enjoyed just about as much Fun with Coding as I can stand. And, I’m sure y’all are sick and tired of hearing about it, so that’s a win-win, eh?

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1. I thought long and hard about the image I picked. I nearly went with another filmstrip collage, but I just couldn’t get excited about that. The sketch I used was done in figure drawing class–a 10 or 15 minute drawing that was never finished. I hung onto it, though, because despite the fact that it’s rough, I really like it. I also like the symbolism of the nude, faceless figure. Blogging and presenting your art on-line is sort of like that. You tend to share more of yourself than is probably prudent, but no matter how transparent you are, you’re still, to some degree, an unknown quantity.

Art, Collage, Journals, Pets

Rory (Composition Book Journal)

Shelly

Farewell to Rory (Composition Book Journal)
Rory, 9 3/4 x 14 1/2 inches, 8 June 2006
acrylic paint and metallic gel marker, photo, receipt, and Gepe mount containing fur

I hid the journal entry behind the receipt. The fur in the Gepe mount was shed at the vet, while I was petting Rory. I made a little pile of it and brought it home with me. The rest of the page is just doodles I did that evening while watching television.