Jurassic Park

Pictures are worth a thousand words, but I will probably end up writing just as much or more than that. I haven't updated in quite awhile and I have people wondering what I have been up to. So here we go...

In late January, I finally got hired at the new LongHorn Steakhouse as an S.A. (Service Assistant) here in Manhattan. I am not going to lie, I love working there. I know working in food is not as much fun as some of the other jobs out there but I really do like the people I work with and honestly I love going to work and then leaving and not taking the work home with me.

So I kicked off this semester with making some little figures. I was going to make a whole bunch of these little ladies and cast them in something, whether it was going to be aluminum, or plaster, or resin...I was never really sure but I was going to string them together to make a chandelier. It's hard to describe my concept. It's just an idea the popped into my head while I was in the shower. This is as far as they have gotten, I have kept them around for a reason though. Not sure what that is yet.



Little partial finished oil clay figures, ruler for size comparison.







































Just recently, I have been  looking into dying my lemon yellow wool. So I tried this Chia tea April left when she moved. I really dislike it and so I thought I would put it to good use and used it as a stain to dye my wool. It turned out a little more neutral then such a bright yellow. Hard to tell by this image but in person you will be able to tell. 


Left: tea stained wool, Right: natural wool.



So this lead to, Kool-Aid dyed wool!

http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEfall02/FEATdyedwool.html

This is where I found how to do it. I spent my Friday off dying some wool. It turned out so nice and vivid. I think I will tone it down and look into getting some green and blue so maybe I can "paint" with my wool. I want to do figures and would be curious to see if I could get a flesh tone. If not I would like to do really neutral, natural looking colors.

This was just a fun experiment.

Experiment: Dyed my white wool with hot water and Kool-Aid.

IT WORKS!!! They turned out so nice.


So I have been sketching lately and have come up with some figures. I have been playing around with elongation, more movement, interactive figures with heads, hands and feet. I am usually so focused on the torso it is hard to make myself think about the rest of the figure but I am trying to make sure they have heads, hands and feet. It is turning out well, I think. Images to come soon. I am using most of these sketches to work on Zach and I's collaboration we have going. This is to come...stay tuned!

Just some sketches I have been working on.



I was working on eliminating or simplifying some of the figures limbs.

I was playing around with making some of the figures interactive with each other.



So this is 'Art & Fear,' I highly recommend it to anyone who makes art and occasionally gets stuck. I made Zach read it and eventually just gifted him his very own copy. But this is what started Zach and I thinking about collaboration. It has also helped us both through some rough artistic times. Worth a read if you ever have any worries about your art.

Art & Fear: the beginning of Zach D's and I collaboration.



Art & Fear: lead to collaboration between Zach and I. We both like sculpting figures and found this shelf floating around from the Willard basement renovation. We thought it was perfect to fill with figures. Most of these figures pictured are Zach's but I just added several new figures to this since this weekend. I have been a busy bee.


This is just the beginning of Zach and I's collaboration. I have just placed 4-5 new figures up there.
Our plan is to fill this old chemistry shelf with figures.
Still unsure of what medium we are going to be casting our figures in.


So this is what I have been up to lately. I will write more later this week. This is just a taste. I am planning on felting around a three dimensional object soon and if that works out then I would like to make my figures lifesize or bigger and wet felting around it. I will definitely let you know how it goes.

Love, B