Some more...
As I mentioned before, it's the final week of 3 of my classes. This means, as an art student, that I have no final "tests." Which is fabulous. BUT...it means I have several LARGE final projects. And...I feel very worn thin because of it. But it definitely makes for some interesting moments.
For example, yesterday I plastered a dress...to myself. To make a longish story shorter, it didn't really work. Proper plaster (and this was anything but proper) "sets off" which basically means you have a small window of time to do what you plan to do with it before it hardens and must be carved or tossed. When it "sets off," it generally gets hot and starts to thicken from a batter consistency to a thick dough...and then finally to a very solid...er...solid. I should really start a saying that goes, "It's all fun and games until someone sets off the dress." Well...this, as I said, was not proper plaster. Because it would have worked. And it would have been cool. What happened was this. I found myself with two choices. Either I could stand in my garage, pregnant, barefoot, wearing a cold, sticky, damp dress for several hours until it dried (despite using a hair dryer AND a heater, it was not drying fast)....or I could call it a loss and figure something else out. So I chickened out. I hung the thing up after half cutting, half peeling it off my body, took a bath to rid myself of paste and such, and went upstairs to paint feeling a little defeated. The next day, for kicks, I touched the hanging dress to see if it had ever decided to dry. It had. And it had become something entirely different than I had expected. It is now the texture of hardened parchment. It's a solid form hanging from a hanger...and...it's very interesting. It's what my instructor Elizabeth would call a "happy accident." NOT at all what I set out to do...but not entirely unfortunate either. I'm finding myself more and more drawn to it and interested in it.
So there you have an example of an interesting moment with an interesting out-come. I'm thinking of turning the dress into a multi-media dress and collaging it. We shall see.
I don't remember mentioning this until now. So I'll mention it.
We decorated for Christmas BEFORE Thanksgiving. I think we are allowed since it's been several Christmases since John has even been here. Our tree is up, our livingroom decorated, our front porch adorned with lights. Our tree is even on a timer so it lights up every day at 4:30pm which results in a little muddle of funny voices since some of John's ornaments are hard wired to the tree and they talk when turned on. I can't help feeling all cheery and joyful every time I enter the living room. And John fully agrees. You can see its cheeriness in my post here.
For example, yesterday I plastered a dress...to myself. To make a longish story shorter, it didn't really work. Proper plaster (and this was anything but proper) "sets off" which basically means you have a small window of time to do what you plan to do with it before it hardens and must be carved or tossed. When it "sets off," it generally gets hot and starts to thicken from a batter consistency to a thick dough...and then finally to a very solid...er...solid. I should really start a saying that goes, "It's all fun and games until someone sets off the dress." Well...this, as I said, was not proper plaster. Because it would have worked. And it would have been cool. What happened was this. I found myself with two choices. Either I could stand in my garage, pregnant, barefoot, wearing a cold, sticky, damp dress for several hours until it dried (despite using a hair dryer AND a heater, it was not drying fast)....or I could call it a loss and figure something else out. So I chickened out. I hung the thing up after half cutting, half peeling it off my body, took a bath to rid myself of paste and such, and went upstairs to paint feeling a little defeated. The next day, for kicks, I touched the hanging dress to see if it had ever decided to dry. It had. And it had become something entirely different than I had expected. It is now the texture of hardened parchment. It's a solid form hanging from a hanger...and...it's very interesting. It's what my instructor Elizabeth would call a "happy accident." NOT at all what I set out to do...but not entirely unfortunate either. I'm finding myself more and more drawn to it and interested in it.
So there you have an example of an interesting moment with an interesting out-come. I'm thinking of turning the dress into a multi-media dress and collaging it. We shall see.
I don't remember mentioning this until now. So I'll mention it.
We decorated for Christmas BEFORE Thanksgiving. I think we are allowed since it's been several Christmases since John has even been here. Our tree is up, our livingroom decorated, our front porch adorned with lights. Our tree is even on a timer so it lights up every day at 4:30pm which results in a little muddle of funny voices since some of John's ornaments are hard wired to the tree and they talk when turned on. I can't help feeling all cheery and joyful every time I enter the living room. And John fully agrees. You can see its cheeriness in my post here.
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