Now that my painting class is over, I've been scrounging around for projects to keep myself occupied with. I don't sit well with doing nothing. It makes me depressed. Luckily I've managed to keep myself nicely fueled with all kinds of bits of doings. And I'm starting a summer metal sculpture class the 26th which runs for 5 weeks, so during that time my whirring motor of a brain should be happy :-)
I find that I tend to go through phases of different art forms, where I get really involved in one medium. Sometimes these phases last for only a few days, but they can go on for months. I'll get really into sewing, knitting, painting, drawing...the list goes on and on. And of course there are tons of subcategories in each medium: plushie making, spinning, abstract painting, cartooning, etc. The possibilities are endless. It's almost like the phases are on a rotating schedule, each taking their turn, passing it on to the next...then later on coming back for the next round. Most of the time I have more than one area that I'm exploring at the same time, and the ideas kind of spill over so that even though the work I am creating in each medium is different materials-wise, it's all connected; one thing leads to another. Right now, I'm in a Plushie-Making-Graphic-Novel-Phase.
This most recent phase started about a week ago when I decided that a fun project would be reincarnating some of my childhood drawings. So down into the basement I went, dragging out a mountain of dusty folders stuffed with scribbles and potato people. Children have such freedom, and can put things on paper with natural ease...I miss that capability, that blissful liberation from art "expectations." Using my childhood artwork as a jumping point, I made sketch after sketch of revamped characters which were originally created by my 4-7 year old brain.
The giraffe/bear and bee/dog/rabbit on the upper page were among a group of marker drawings titled "MIXED UP ANIMALS." There was even an angel/skunk. Heh. Imagine that.
I love the all leg guy wearing shorts (written in carefully formed letters on the original drawing: GLAMMA ITS YELLOW AND HAS NO ARMS. I assume "Glamma" was some kind of invented species of mine?)
This is where the "graphic novel" part of this current phase comes in. I've always wanted to make my own comic books/strips/graphic novels, but in the past I've felt like it was very intimidating. Not sure why, since I lot writing and I love drawing. Bang those two passions together and voila. Why should I feel like it's beyond me? I found the book Drawing Words & Writing Pictures, and I'm planning on taking myself through that this summer (in fact, I've already started.) I'm excited. ^___^
On to PLUSHIES!!! Who doesn't love a good plushie? I know I can't resist 'em. My graphic novel excitement was interrupted by The Invasion of the Stuffies. All my attempts to hold my ground were futile. The first incomer was Frankie Thurp, a dignified used book salesman with way too much heart (he certainly wheedled his way into mine.) He also smokes a pipe even though I tell him he shouldn't. I stitched him together during a visit with a friend.
Remember about what I was saying about the ideas spilling over? Well, here is an example of that phenomenon. After Frankie Thurp, I began making another plushie, but this one I based off one of the revamped childhood drawings I did. SQEEEE!!! I named her Maiibull-Eeen (hey, what a poet I am.) Just wookit dat wittle buck tooth! And her toes :) I wuv her! She's got wire in all those bows to make them nice and bendable and to make sure they hold their lovely bow shape.
There she is, up at the top.
And there you have it- my life in plushies and cartoons since classes let out. Sorry about the length of this massive post. I seem to have a tendency to get behind on this blogging bidness, and meanwhile the art work that I do keeps on a pilin' up. By the time I get around to doing a post, it's a novel...
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