Saturday, October 21, 2006

Desire


Desire
Originally uploaded by GroggyFroggy.
I've been working on this piece for a couple of days. I'm finally pretty happy with it, although it's out of my norm. I was just playing with textures. I painted the background and let it dry and then painted it again. I've been wanting to experiment with using an onion bag in a collage. I love the mesh and the idea of recycling so I mod podged the onion bag on and then randomly mod podged on a piece of embroidery floss. I actually did that before the painting. I wasn't even sure whether I would do something with the canvas vertical or horizontal. I decided to just do whatever came to me. I finally could see a woman's figure (albeit tiny) in the floss so I found a vintage head image I liked on flickr. I went through a number of them from magazines first. This one seemed right. I decided to do her dress from Elle magazine dress photos. As I was searching for more pictures, I ran across a piece of paper where I had jotted down the little quote about netted birds. Then I knew, for the first time, what I would do with the net part. I cut the little bird out of some lace and was going to tuck it under the mesh. Of course, the mesh just came loose so I peeled it off and LOVED the way it looked so just stuck the bird on top. When I had finally pretty much finished her, my younger son told me how neat my volcano was. heh So I decided I needed to add a little bit more...volcano NOT the look I was going for. lol He said it was the color and he was right..you can still see it if you think about it. I added a flower to her upper body and ran some pink and gold paint over the dress pieces on the bottom, which gave them a more cohesive look. I do love my choice for her hands. It took me forever...cutting out hands and trying them on her. On the model, these hands are actually out to her sides..like a cheerleader running but I thought she looked more demure and "oh no, I couldn't possibly...." this way. Finally I added the little bird on her shoulder. It sort of says that she hasn't quite abandoned her senses to desire yet. :)

It was fun and a little scary to not know where I was going with it. I think it really pushes us, though, to do things like this. It's the tightwad in me that made it scary. I didn't want to waste the canvas. lol

It's a beautiful sunny day with just a little chill in the air. A perfect October day. I may go for a walk later. My day is a little more open with Tim gone because I don't have to wake him and have his dinner ready by 4:30 in the afternoon. Nick needs to make a costume for a play he's in at school and I just happen to have a 50% off coupon for JoAnnes so we're going there later today. I know...a hardship. He also would like some canvases for some graffitti art he's working on so I suppose I'll just have to drag us to ACMoore too. I have a 40% off coupon for that dream place. :)

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend. Catch up with you later.


Edited to add: The quote is by Belva Plain. I actually meant to include it on the collage and totally left it off. Thanks "ME" for asking!

10 comments:

Melissa said...

ack! I had a comment all written and clicked the wrong button when trying to close a tab...

Okay - I knew it was Tim but only because you mentioned him dehydrating food for his trip.

I love, love, love the quote...do you know who said it?

I also love the little quotes you give us from your son regarding your work. I think they are so funny but also sweet. I love that he looks at your stuff and comments on it. I think that is so cool.

Now I am waiting for the full size image to download so I can see all the details you mentioned.

Cool - the mesh and the bird is the coolest!!

Lisa said...

Belva Plain is who said it. I don't know anything about this author but I really loved the quote.

Thanks for your fun and nice comment. :)

Lisa Oceandreamer Swifka said...

this is great Lisa and I like your thought process, letting it come to YOU has the best results! I have collage fever these days and so anxious to do more on canvas instead of watercolor paper.
Volcano eh? lol! I don't see it. I can't read the whole quote even enlarging it :(
Have fun with your coupons, I have one for Michaels and today is the last day - eek! (oh well another comes out tomorrow)
Keep arting it up - you are growing with each new piece and they are fab!
XOXO

Daisy Lupin said...

Looks like someone is going on a craft and art spending spree. hee hee! enjoy

Lisa said...

Lisa, I'm anxious to hear if you used your Michael's coupon today. lol I bought some things at Joanne's Fabric and played with it all afternoon. :)

Daisy, I'm afraid I really did! LOL I had fun, though. I've been much too good lately. :)

gma said...

Your collage is cool...I love the process of making a collage and letting it lead you where ever it may....Can't wait to see what you do with fabric you got!
:-)

Miss Robyn said...

"It was fun and a little scary to not know where I was going with it. I think it really pushes us, though, to do things like this"

it is fun isn't it? to start something, not knowing where you are going and come up with ART? this piece is great !
thanks for the support over the past week xo - I start my second chakra tomorrow and will be posting about my base experience - beware hee hee

Dot said...

This is great Lisa!! I loved reading the process, and how you decided to use images etc. Very, very clever! Isn't collage so much fun? It is a great way to use lots of different mediums.

I really love you use of colors. It is very brave and the colors flow beautifully. Well done you!!

Dotee xoxo

Pam Aries said...

I love it! I am glad we can enlarge pics! It is satisfying when something artwise comes together perfectly like this did! Now I want to do a collage!

Anonymous said...

You don't have to ever be afraid of ruining a canvas - just buy a bottle of gesso next time you're at the art supply store (gesso is what they prepare ready-to-paint canvases with, and it will cover over anything you don't like in a couple of coats). Or you can always collage over it. If you really want something to stay on (though I like the technique of using the netting as a resist, that's always fun), you can use acrylic gel medium if you want it to stay).
Another fun texture-y thing to try is pressing in saran/plasticwrap. Heck I press in anything I can get my hands on (that I'm not afraid to get paint on, that is).
Love this one!