...But For This Page, I Concentrated On My Strengths...
It's good to be back and take some time to reflect. This week's Creative Therapy calls for creating art around some unfinished business in your life, and I was seriously in need of digging deep and extracting some of my more positive attributes.
There really isn't much to say about this page, except that I really wanted to free-hand cut out a paper doll, and when I was finished, the cut was clean enough to use the waste as a stencil. So I did.
...Cutting With Scissors
Freehand cuts are something that I've found I have a talent for. I don't have to think much about them. I just have a shape in mind and begin cutting quickly, but slowly enough to make decisions along the way. My cuts usually come out clean because I don't hesitate, and therefore don't have to go back over the same spot twice.
Sometimes if I'm stuck on drawing a shape with a pencil, I'll put the pencil down and grab the scissors. Once cut, I can easily repeat the shape with the pencil. You'd think it would be the other way around--pencil first, then scissors. I'm aware of how the brain integrates small-motor information, and cross-training in cutting with scissors and drawing is valuable since practice in either area boosts performance in both. But don't most people draw first what they plan to cut out?
My thought about why it may work better for me when dealing with contours is that for people who draw quite a bit, with pencil in hand, the brain pulls in more information than necessary to draw just an outline. The brain may be processing the possibility of fill-in, as well. A subconscious process of weeding-out information may take place, causing hesitation due to the flood of minute decisions involved in the background, whereas with scissors in hand, the brain isn't processing the fill-in, just the outline. I have no idea whether I'm right about this, but it is the kind of thing my geeky brain likes to ponder.
...On Brushes
Here's a tip you might find useful: There is a school supply store here called The Learning Store. It's a chain, but just how wide-spread it is, I have no idea. This is where I buy packages of the inexpensive bristle brushes I use for acrylics and for gluing. I think I get about 24 for $8. The brand is Lakeshore, and the quality is good enough to take the beating of a third-grade class throughout a school year. The brushes have tight ferrules and don't shed many hairs, and they have nice, short, elementary school sized handles which make them better for table use than the long handled brushes designed for working at an easel.
I also buy bags of short, stubby brushes at about $6 for 24. These have shorter, fatter, blue and red plastic handles with an extended plastic ring just beneath the brush area so that when you set them down, the brushes are slightly elevated from the table. They were designed with less mess in mind, but for me, their short, thick and stubby bristles are perfect for stippling. They work well as is, but sometimes I cut them down even further. I think that one package of each of these should last the average artist a lifetime. I'll let you know if and when I out-live mine.
...About Photos
I really admire people who can shoot great pics that need no post-camera adjustments. I am not among them. When it comes to photographing artwork, my objective is always to make the piece look as close to the real deal as possible. As far as I'm concerned, the fancy tweaks and enhancements have their place when the photo itself is art, but when photographing a piece of completed artwork, I want to see it as it is in person. With my limited set of skills, I can't shoot the real deal very accurately, but fortunately, I do pretty well (getting better every day) in Photoshop. So when it comes to pics of my work, I tweak to bring them back to reality, not to distort or enhance them.
The page above was shot but not photoshopped. The wizards at Adobe are in the process of validating my letter of software destruction before processing my request for a X-plat upgrade from CS3 to CS4. Of course, before sending off the blood-soaked LOD which attests to the destruction of existing software, one must first have actually destroyed the software, which I did on May 24. Do the math. I've been without my already paid for Photoshop for how many days now? So what you see above is not actually what you get. For some reason, my camera reads whites too hot. The background color is accurate, but in reality the doll is beige. There is also lots of sparkle and the reds are a bit blacker in reality. It's not really this flat-looking, either. There is shadow and shine in the original, but any edits done in IPhoto affect the entire piece, so I can't selectively edit the pixels to give you (and me) reality. Oh well. I'll just have to wait for my upgrade, and keep waiting, and waiting......
Right now I am
Going to make a tuna lettuce wrap and
Get more work done
Browse a bookstore with my daughter and her friend
Spend some time outside enjoying what promises to be the last of days under 100 degree temperatures until November
Read more software manuals (which has been my only way of "practicing" photoshop since the requisite destruction of software)
Wondering if I am the only idiot good citizen alive who actually complies with these rules
Have a great day, Everyone!
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