Creating Beauty
Aug. 24th, 2009 09:24 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
anne_dI actually finished this the end of July (the 28th, if you're keeping score), but it's taken me a while to get it photographed.
So. Here is the result of the Create Beauty from Within Class, taught by Alma de la Melena Cox.
I started out thinking I'd just go through the class steps and learn the new techniques, because at that point, I was completely brain-dead and creatively burned out. At some point, though, my muse or whatever started taking over and giving orders, and then things got really fun. Or weird, or both. I'm calling the results "Creative Elements" (see why, below).
The first panel we did was the back, Panel 4. I used the same color scheme as the class sample, except for the little door and the inside of the cupboard (which I didn't photograph). I fell in love with the "Grow" plaque and had to use it.
The second was the one with the mermaid, Panel 2. The example had a goddess charm, but I also like mermaids, so I did my own thing with that one. There's a bit of *ahem* patching on the "Beauty" - I started writing it in dimensional paint, discovered I'd left out the "u" just after I wrote the "t" and had to fix it. After some frantic experiments, I just painted a fish over the mistake and added a couple more to balance it.
Panel 2 looked like Water, which got me thinking about the four elements thing. The back panel looked like Earth, Mother Earth, with the flowers and leaves and "Grow", so I decided it needed a bird's nest. I don't know why, it just got into my head that it did. Eggs hold something secret, and something that grows; perhaps that's it. My mind goes strange places sometimes.
Next was the third panel. This one is very close to the example. I changed some of the details, but the goddess holding up the mirror-moon and the hills are similar. The color scheme, though, is more "me". It represents Air. The goddess figure is made from some satiny fabric which had shiny bits on it. They weren't shiny enough after it was fused down, so I added some dimensional paint droplets and holographic star confetti.
The front panel was last. I did my own thing on this one. For some reason, I thought of Akhenaten's sun with the little hands on the ends of the rays, and it just seemed the right thing to do. The hands are to create things, of course, and its element is Fire. The Earth is in the lower corner.
Then there's the little accordion book - I looked everywhere for a tiny bird's nest to stick in the little compartment, but couldn't find one small enough. So I ended up with a pewter bead/charm, which I painted in pearl white and gold Lumiere and worked into the book's design.
Front panel: Fire
Inner panels: Water, Air
Back Panel: Earth
Materials: Two 4x4 stretched canvases, paper clay molded face (that was fun, I made several in different sizes from the purchased mold) painted with Lumiere in two colors, pewter charms, fabrics (fused with Steam-A-Seam 2), various acrylic paints, shisha mirror, Czech glass beads, metal flashing (the little door), metal leaf, various adhesives, gel medium, wooden feet, Thai paper (around the edges of the canvases, it doesn't show in the photos), teeny metal hinges and a nifty clasp I got from Manto Fev. The little accordion book is made from lightweight bookboard and covered in Japanese paper; the tie is pearl cotton and two Czech glass beads. I wrote a few affirmations in it.
(Entry crossposted to LJ.)
So. Here is the result of the Create Beauty from Within Class, taught by Alma de la Melena Cox.
I started out thinking I'd just go through the class steps and learn the new techniques, because at that point, I was completely brain-dead and creatively burned out. At some point, though, my muse or whatever started taking over and giving orders, and then things got really fun. Or weird, or both. I'm calling the results "Creative Elements" (see why, below).
The first panel we did was the back, Panel 4. I used the same color scheme as the class sample, except for the little door and the inside of the cupboard (which I didn't photograph). I fell in love with the "Grow" plaque and had to use it.
The second was the one with the mermaid, Panel 2. The example had a goddess charm, but I also like mermaids, so I did my own thing with that one. There's a bit of *ahem* patching on the "Beauty" - I started writing it in dimensional paint, discovered I'd left out the "u" just after I wrote the "t" and had to fix it. After some frantic experiments, I just painted a fish over the mistake and added a couple more to balance it.
Panel 2 looked like Water, which got me thinking about the four elements thing. The back panel looked like Earth, Mother Earth, with the flowers and leaves and "Grow", so I decided it needed a bird's nest. I don't know why, it just got into my head that it did. Eggs hold something secret, and something that grows; perhaps that's it. My mind goes strange places sometimes.
Next was the third panel. This one is very close to the example. I changed some of the details, but the goddess holding up the mirror-moon and the hills are similar. The color scheme, though, is more "me". It represents Air. The goddess figure is made from some satiny fabric which had shiny bits on it. They weren't shiny enough after it was fused down, so I added some dimensional paint droplets and holographic star confetti.
The front panel was last. I did my own thing on this one. For some reason, I thought of Akhenaten's sun with the little hands on the ends of the rays, and it just seemed the right thing to do. The hands are to create things, of course, and its element is Fire. The Earth is in the lower corner.
Then there's the little accordion book - I looked everywhere for a tiny bird's nest to stick in the little compartment, but couldn't find one small enough. So I ended up with a pewter bead/charm, which I painted in pearl white and gold Lumiere and worked into the book's design.
Front panel: Fire
Inner panels: Water, Air
Back Panel: Earth
Materials: Two 4x4 stretched canvases, paper clay molded face (that was fun, I made several in different sizes from the purchased mold) painted with Lumiere in two colors, pewter charms, fabrics (fused with Steam-A-Seam 2), various acrylic paints, shisha mirror, Czech glass beads, metal flashing (the little door), metal leaf, various adhesives, gel medium, wooden feet, Thai paper (around the edges of the canvases, it doesn't show in the photos), teeny metal hinges and a nifty clasp I got from Manto Fev. The little accordion book is made from lightweight bookboard and covered in Japanese paper; the tie is pearl cotton and two Czech glass beads. I wrote a few affirmations in it.
(Entry crossposted to LJ.)
(no subject)
Date: 2009-08-24 06:34 pm (UTC)