The past few weeks have ended up mashing together so quickly that I wasn't able to upload process photos of the dimensional piece I put into the 20th anniversary show for Untitled, so here's the review blog for it.
I was so back-logged with freelance work that I wasn't able to start production until the weekend before the show, when I invaded fellow artist Scott Hoerz's studio to use his woodworking tools to make my shadowbox. I came across a problem trying to find a store-bought shadowbox at least 2" deep to allow room for the eggshells...and I'm poor and couldn't fathom spending $45 at Hobby Lobby for a pre-made. But, Mr. Hoerz graciously did the work of pulling apart my box, measuring and cutting a groove for glass to slide in and protect my work. He also invited me to return next time I need one, since there will be 3-4 more pieces. I watched him so closely that I'm pretty sure I can do it on my own again :) I'd get the tools myself, but between the Dremel and band-saw I'd be laying down more than I have to spare, heh.
But! I had the box, and proceeded to stain it to give the already sealed pine a distressed and aged look while the unsealed wood stained deeply, lending to a wonderfully organic result.
I then cut a sheet of paper to fit the inside for a loose template sketch of the painting, then did a dry fit for the eggshells with the template in place, which gave me a good idea about how large to make the doll.
Making the doll was time-consuming. I wanted to mix of simple form and anatomical detail on certain parts, but making hands and similar in size and slightly anatomical is a true test of that "attention to detail" description on my resume. Shaping her took about half an evening and then maybe another 4 hours to finalize the part shapes and clean her up for baking the next day. The jump rings to attach the parts together were baked into the clay to ensure durablity...and probably took up half the time spent on the doll before baking.
While my oven was preheating I gathered all the paint and other supplies I'd need to distress her, the background painting and the box.
A wonderful friend, Clarissa, works in a framing store and is generous to donate all the "drops" from each matting job. The drops are essentially the center of the matt, perfectly good pieces of board but of no use to the shop. They are Perfect to paint on, so I trimmed out a piece to fit my box and began the background sketch while the doll was in the oven.
While checking the fit of the sketch within the box, I decided that the walls, needed to have more interest, so I started digging in my supplies. I came up with an interesting sand textured gesso that I piled onto the side walls to dry while I painted. It's supposed to dry clear, but the areas where I really piled it on ghosted up a bit and stayed a little tacky. I knew I wanted to add screen on top, so I didn't sweat that too much, but if it would affect your project, I'd suggest many thin coats to add that texture.
I started laying the basic colors in thin layers for the background painting while the doll was cooling off. I didn't want the blue background to be too flat of a shade, even though there would be tree silouhettes to add, so I chunked in three shades of blue and mixed in a little purple, keeping the area near the moon light lend a sort of halo effect.
After she was cool and ready to paint I alternated painting background and doll, frequently checking the colors under my desk lamp which is fitted with a bright white light which promises to not alter colors. My overhead lights are a bit too warm and have hidden color inconsistensies before, and I definitely wanted this to "come out right." I used an alligator clip to hold the doll parts that needed to be painted in a uniformly (the head and torso) and hung the rest on paper clips since color changes between the tips and center would enhance the look I was going for.
After the body was painted and glossed with a crackle effect sheen, I used gunmetal jump rings to put her together for another dry fit in the box. Perfect.
Now, I had a doll who needed a home.
This was the stage to fix painting in place and tack the screen around the edges, making sure to not scratch the board. The tackiness of the sand gesso helped keep the screen in place while lending a dirty visual affect when inspected close. I affixed the shells in place using E6000 (being VERY careful to not press too hard on them) using the photo of the dry run to guide where the larger pieces would go and I added more tiny shell pieces to keep things from looking too sparse. I was very excited to be able to use those shells in something. They were left over from some amazing farm-fresh eggs from my brother-in-law's girlfriend's parents' chickens, and the shells were too interesting to just toss. You could almost say keeping those shells planted the seed of this project.
Getting the wire to the right length to hang the doll, then wiring the parts in the correct position felt awkward, but not difficult, and I learned what to do slightly different for the next piece. I kinda love learning along the way, makes me feel clever.
My favorite part of a project, though, is turning it around to show the complete piece to my husband, who has this awesome reaction face that says "wow, that's really cool. heh, my wife just made a kick-ass piece." Try as he may, and he does try sometimes to make me feel better about difficult ideas, he can't fake that face. And when he doesn't make it I know that the idea/piece/process needs tweaking or trashing. That night, his face told me it was perfect.
Now, the story.
During the Untitled show I recieved so much awesome feedback and personal interpretations from the viewer that I knew I hit the mark of "telling my story while being able to pull out one from the viewer." Some felt terrible for telling such horrible stories after seeing my piece, but I was thankful to them for opening up.
This isn't a totally positive piece, as the doll is obviously being threatened by the rabid, fuming jackal in the background. My abridged story was about how sometimes no matter what you do, how you change or how lightly you walk on eggshells to keep someone happy, you'll always end up breaking some shells and igniting a fight. There is more to it, but I have to hold it a little to the chest since that's the main aspect of the final piece in the series....and it'd be like titling the last Spiderman run "Death of Spiderman." Giving away the plot twist and leaving the climax a little "eh." (i say this without actually reading that run, but husband has and I've listened to iFanboy's review of it...so there's trustworthy nerd-dom behind it.)
Anyway, thanks for hanging in for possibly the longest blog to date. I'll try to make future reviews a bit shorter...but hey, compact writing isn't my forte ^_^
The next installments to this series will be displayed during Cadillac Tramp's "Saratoga's Revenge" show at Phat Bites on August 20th and No Egret's "Let Them Art" in Clarksville on August 27th. I'm going to try to debut the final piece at "Let Them Art" so the entire story can be seen in one spot, and soon.
