"Curses, Plastered again!"

"An impossibility does not disturb us until its accomplishment show what fools we were." 

~Henry S. Haskins

I am fully and wonderfully plastered from head to toe, as is my @ArtPrize Sculpture.
Only took me 4-5 days to accomplish; a great base to start with.

She has a bustle; only fitting for a "Light Bringing" Angel?

Hands are just about ready to hold the world;  the "Orb" got plastered today, drying away.
Her shawl got wrapped around her arm; gotta have enough cloth to dry someone's tears.

Here are one side of the bottom wings laid out ready to be "sewn" on with copper wire.

Here are "Molly's Angels", Lisa & Michael, attaching a few copper feathers; Thanks!

Four Days of wiring and plastering have left me with a great start to "Luminary".
Waiting on some colored stained glass to make final decisions on coloration.
A lot of work yet to do, but I am thankful to have had all weekend to work on Her. Thanks, family!
And thanks to all interested in her growth, and to all the incoming encouragement.
Peace....

The Angel Parts Coming Together!

"Light gives of itself freely, filling an available space.  

It does not seek anything in return;

it asks not whether you are friend or foe.

It gives of itself and is not thereby diminished."

~Michael Strassfield

Crunch time is here. I have secured a venue for @ArtPrize;

The Grand Rapids Civic Theatre Stage!

"Luminary" will have quite a presence up there.

The patinated copper feathers laid out to dry from their vinegar and salt solution.

Attaching the angelic cement face to the head structure.
She waits so patiently for me to finish...

"Angels, pixies, faerie dust

Treading love and living lust."

~Jaesse Tyler

She is my friend ; we shall be spending much time together in the next few months.

@ArtPrize opening day is September 22, 2010. If any one shall need me, 

I will be in the studio;)

Angel Progression

"How did it get so late so soon?

It's night before it's afternoon.

December is here before it's June.

My goodness how the time has flewn.

How did it get so late so soon?"

~Dr. Seuss

Finally... some updated pictures on the progress of

"Luminary", Angel of Light.  I have been a bit busy 

working on all the bits & pieces of the sculpture.

These are the hands which are made of wire screen 

and have been sewn with a needle and wire (and stuffed

with plastic shopping bags to stiffen).

Here she is with her wings on (copper feathers will be

attached to the wings soon). I have started to apply

plaster cast to her chest and a bit of thin-set mortar 

to check hardness factor.

The whole body has been created with chicken wire and

wire screen, like the hands, sewn with a needle and wire.

Some copper feathers in a mixture of white vinegar and salt. 

The "patina" happens quickly, however, we shall see if it

dries there. It may have been too wet a solution to get the

patina to stay permanently. Will leave for another week or so

to see results. This picture is after about a week in the solution.

I have the head started as well. The cast of my daughter's face

came out well in thin-set mortar. I am working on attaching

it to a wire head form, which at the moment is stuffed also

with plastic shopping bags to keep its shape. As it turns out,

the cement face is about 8-10 pounds, so I will need to brace

the head with a bar of some sort.  I will post pix of the head when

I get some.

In the mean time... Happy when working; a bit stressed when

I am not. There is a time factor here. @ArtPrize.org 's opening 

day is September 22 and I'm still waiting on a venue.

Faith is in the works. Peace

"What is a face, really? Its own photo? Its make-up? Or is it a face as painted by such or such painter? That which is in front? Inside? Behind? And the rest? Doesn't everyone look at himself in his own particular way? Deformations simply do not exist.

~ Pablo Picasso

My first attempt at making a face for my angel; I couldn't think of a better model in the whole world to represent my "muse", my daughter.  Sculpture pix coming soon...

Onward Ambitious ArtPrize Entry...

"We are each of us born into the arms of mortality, the Lord recognizing our need to be held."~ Robert Brault

...And the need to fly! This being as close as I can get at the moment, making some angel wings.

 More like closer to the 'idea' of flying. Here is the box of 8" long copper feathers after being cut from an 18' long x 3' sheet of 10 Mil copper sheeting.

These are the first feathers after much pressing and hammering (and rubbing on of Tei Fu Massage Cream to soothe my aching hands and wrists...) I am so loving how these are turning out but I may re-think a new hobby of copper tooling? Extreme soreness is only a problem when you don't tend to go into things half heartedly. (Did I mention that I can be quite tenacious?)

I actually experienced a shot of endorphins after seeing how these turned out, even more when I wired the first few on the actual wings to get a look and measure out each one (see below).

So rocking this process and each step of it will be guaranteed to bring more ecstasy. (Yes, if you haven't figured it out already, I am a bit weird, but that is one of the reasons my husband married me and one of the most important life bits to teach your kids: Everyone is weird, some just more than others!) 

So... glad I have a while to process the attaching of the feathers to the wings; It will be a while before I get all these tooled. I ordered a pressure sensitive tape from the copper company and will be playing with that and a bit of wiring I believe. The whole impetus behind my idea of the copper was to keep the wings fairly light; they are already about 40 pounds having been made with rebar, and to add mosaic glass and grout would have made them too heavy to lift and place into the mosaic angel sculpture's back (at least, that is what we thought and didn't want to find out the hard way).

So exciting to start a new project and so sad that I have a real day job. It will save me from extreme carpal tunnel syndrome all at once (except I get my share of that from doing hair).

Have a great weekend, and don't forget to fly;)

Copper Colored Imagination

"Maybe we should develop a Crayola bomb as our next secret weapon. A happiness weapon. A beauty bomb. And every time a crisis developed, we would launch one. It would explode high in the air- explode softly- and send thousands, millions, of little parachutes into the air. Floating down to earth- boxes of Crayolas. And we wouldn't go cheap, either- not little boxes of eight. Boxes of sixty four, with the sharpener built right in. With silver and gold and copper, magenta and peach and lime, amber and umber and all the rest. And people would smile and get a little funny look on their faces and cover the world with imagination." ~ Robert Fulghum

Copper Feather Cutting...with tin snips and must not forget the LEATHER GLOVES! Copper is very sharp, but oh, so shiny.

Next in the process: A bit o' tooling and patination. I will keep a picture log of the process.

Still ruminating how to attach to the wing structure; I have a few options and will play with the center at the back of the angel. I also ordered the first of the mosaic tiles for the angel yesterday. Such a fun and exciting process. Thanks for sharing it with me;)

Artists Begin Registration to Compete for World's Largest Art Prize

The amazing #1 Art Work of ArtPrize 2009. Ran Ortner's "Open Water". Read an amazing interview with Ran here: http://blog.artprize.org/2010/04/21/what-happened-to-the-winner-of-artprize-2009/?utm_source=TwitterPost&utm_medium=SocialMedia&utm_campaign=RanOrtner

Artists Begin Registration to Compete for World's Largest Art Prize

Here is my entry from 2009, "Mosaic Poppies". 

It is still hanging in Collins Fine Art Gallery in Grand Rapids, MI.