Metamorphasis . . .

The very best things happen in the most casual way - I took this picture in the yard yesterday afternoon and thought I'd make it into a stamp/brush in Photoshop this morning. This was displacement activity because I should have been doing something else. But I justified it to myself - as you do. So, a black and white set at 2500 pixels size.

It seemed totally logical to start with a black background and Lordy look what I got!! Whatever else I had to do has completely gone out of my head now. The problem is that I strained the muscles and inflamed the nerves in my forearm yesterday and spent the afternoon and evening in a sling - looking pretty stupid I must say. So I really shouldn't even be on the computer at all. Maybe just half an hour to play with this. And then some aspirin.

Counting the days . . .

More random collages

I knew it would happen before long - the Madonna. Despite not being a Catholic I do seem to end up doing a lot of these, or I have done in the past.


Playing around with the paper doll thing - I do love taking the head off one and sticking it on another, changing the bodies around. It reminds me of that kids book that divides into three parts and you can make up funny creatures with the head of one animal, the body of another and the legs and and tail of another. Ooh, actually that's a thought. I haven't used tails, I haven't put tails on any of these girls! What a terrible oversight on my part. Must go in search of tails. Anyway, I liked the above collage but then took the head off and now I'm not sure that I don't like it better just like this ( below) - Strange Bride.

I can haz boxes!

Here's one I f****d up earlier . . . . . . not the best boxes for getting the backing paper out of - or perhaps it's my technique that's a little clumsy!

Oh, I had so much fun with this. It's only an old cardboard box but the wooden one I had was too small for this paper doll. I wanted to use brighter colours after all the lugubrious stuff of last week. Again its photocopies and ink. This is my kitsch side coming out. It happens from time to time, I think I've got it under control and then all of a sudden it betrays me. Well, I love this anyway. I've not gotten round to painting the wooden box but I've been fiddling around with various things. I can feel what I want but have to work my way round to it. Definitely fabric, I do want to line them with fabric - this is a very rough sort of sticking things together but it's going in the right direction. The problem is there's so much you can do with boxes, for days I was just paralysed by the choice of materials and ideas. I don't have problems coming up with ideas, I have problems choosing. It's because I want everything. Unfortunately this isn't possible so certain things have to go by the board.

I got these two little boxes on e-bay (where else?!!), they are only 5 1/2 square. They had some horrible fake flowers in them which I ripped out. But I just wasn't sure what I was going to do with them. I wanted box frames for putting vintage fabric and jewellery in but these were too small in the end and came with no glass so that was out of the question. As usual the bits just put themselves together. Not sure wether I'll actually keep them like this. No doubt they will undergo many more transformations before I'm completely satisfied. And I successfully bid for ( by a mixture of luck, cunning and guile) a plain wooden box with glass front. From Ikea apparently. Nowhere on the website can I find these box frames but there you are. I await it's arrival with a mixture of excitement and trepidation. I'm excited by the possibilities this will offer but also unsure about quite what it will unleash. More dolls no doubt. Oh, I can think of all sorts of things I could put together in a box. I will be awake waiting for the postman early tomorrow. Actually that's a bit of a waste of time cos the postman doesn't turn up till midmorning round here but you know what I mean.

The Two-sided Man

by

Rudyard Kipling

"Much I owe to the Lands that grew,

More to the lives that grew,

But most to Allah who gave me two

Seperate sided to my head.

I would go without shirt or shoe,

Friend, tobacco or bread,

Sooner than lose for a minute the two

Seperate sides of my head."

I thought I'd include these two verses of Kipling's poem for those who don't read my other blog.

I feel blessed to be able to do what I do.

And now for something completely different . . .

Help! My toast lacks Structural Integrity!!! Is this what Dali really had in mind when he did the droopy watch painting? Who knows.

Adding colour . . . .

I wasn't so bad once I'd started - it was the starting that was scary. I went from splashing the ink on to adding small hints of colour to the photocopy of the dutch flower painting. Again the juxtaposition made itself, strange but I like it a lot.

I actually did this one first - thought I'd start on something small so it wouldn't matter if I messed it up. I tried coloured pencils (Caran D'ache) but they never look very convincing somehow so I used the acrylic inks again. If you notice a predominant colour palette it's because I only have a couple of colours!! I've had them for years without really using them but they work really well for this because they are so immediate. Got to work fast to bypass the intellectual/ analytical bit of the brain.

And then I doused this lady with my favourite blue ( sorry, that should be, my only blue) and again was pleased with the results. Today I let myself get excited about all this. I can see it coming together day by day. More tomorrow - watch this space.

Black and White

Following on from the last lot of pictures - I liked the photocopies of the collages almost better than the coloured originals and decided to try a bit more of this. This first picture is so strong but it's unsettling because of the blank spaces don't you think? This is far more demanding than if I'd filled it all in. Isn't negative space interesting though? What isn't there (see previous post) is as important as what is. I also wanted to not get too intellectual about all the component parts and just stick the first two things together that came to hand. I'm tempted to leave this exactly as it is.

Not crazy about the eye at the top of this which is unusual because given the chance I will put eyes on just about anything. Again I like it better than the original.

I'm nervous about putting colour on these. Originally I thought I would photocopy them in order to work into them more with colour or texture. But they already have plenty of texture and somehow I'm hesitant about colour. I did add just a touch in the end but with paper and not ink.And this I liked. The eye sweeps over it and says, oh, yes, black and white but then there is that little detail. Also the strong painted single colour it's backed on is good. I need to do more of these but am totally not set up for paint . . . too much fabric in my workspace.

So in the end I did apply some colour and didn't really like it that much. I was prepared to be wrong about it but I'm just not that crazy about this. Hmm, back to the drawing board.