I’m often surprised by my occasional creations. I have some idea in my head but I’m never quite sure how they will appear. Mostly pleasant, some failures. And then these creatures started to appear… from somewhere… They disturbed me and shocked me a little as they started to form. I wasn’t sure where they had come from. Surely not my head!!! I started to worry about what I had found.
Then the reaction from other people: you could see they weren’t sure what they thought of them. Somewhere between fairy tale and nightmare. A silence.. and then the questions.
I found them very difficult to photograph. I think they look much more dramatic in reality.
The bases are triangular so the picture they paint changes depending on their relationship to each other; both facing you (waiting for you to say something), facing each other (story telling), facing away from each other (contemplative, or perhaps not wanting to listen to each other).
I like the bases. They look like rings of stone. A small magical circle for them to sit inside.
I started them using wire and wood formers, then adding clay, the heads appearing last and unexpectedly. They are around 400mm tall.
Colouring was difficult. I intended black first so you would look at the shapes and not be distracted by any colour. That was too dramatic and they looked very dark in so many ways. I painted one orange. No. Then I tried greens, blues, purples and I decided to stop (so difficult to know when to stop with any art).
I have been through a few names for them but in the end I decided to leave that to the viewer :o)
These are just great!
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Wonderful!
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They remind me of the characters from Nightmare Before Christmas or Coraline…pretty much any animated character by Tim Burton.
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Lovely creautures!
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What you describe sounds like what writers often say: their characters start leading their own lives. Your creations are wonderful, so full of life and expression, perhaps all you need to do now is to pay attention, observe, listen…?
And I LOVE the way you made the photos, with the dark background. I can hardly imagine them more dramatic than this!
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Is this why we all create? Because we never really know what will appear? Maybe it’s because whatever appears is a part of us that we can’t see any other way.
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Fascinating
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cool…I like the colors… it didn’t come from your head lol…where did it come from…aren’t fairytales and nightmares, in their simplest forms, just good and bad, or good and evil…
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Thank you. So are these creatures good or evil? I can’t decide!!!
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I’ve nominated you for the “blogger recognition award” at http://aminaberg.com/2015/07/27/blogger-recognition-award/
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I have used primer and car spray painted on plaster or concrete pieces [not too sure about ‘clay’- but should work with drying clay]. Layers is helpful – Light brown. followed by dark brown and then black – you can buff the paint to reveal the under layers. Then you can brush on gold or silver [etc – metalics] using another oil on a cloth, or brush the piece with a copper brush = leaves behind its copper a bit. In the end the result is a Bronze look with some patina so add turquoises for that copper look.
Loved your free colouring and thought that was brilliant. You did a good job with everything. Loved the platform and ‘pebble’ texture. The fantasy images were quite good – but can’t judge them – they are interesting.
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Thank you so much 🙂 I have played with spray paint a little – I like the way you can introduce a colour from one direction on a complex piece to give the impression there is a difference in light from that direction. Interesting idea to use a piece of cloth – I am trying out some small masks at the moment so will try some of your ideas. Thanks!
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Thank you Amina. First award! Not sure I deserve it though – there are soooo many great bloggers out there, including yours, but thank you (harder to receive than to give haha)
If you like thoughts and images painted with words, take a look http://aminaberg.com/
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You’re right, there are many other blogger who deserves to be recognize. But I enjoy your blog, and thought you needed some or more recognition. Thank you for your kind words. 🙂
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What a lovely way to express the journey with unfolding creativity. I call it the Art of Emergence. x
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it didn’t occur to me they might be evil. they look gentle to me.
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They are beautiful creations! Isn’t so great to see what turn out anytime you create something? I love the creative process everytime on my own creations.. 🙂
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Sometimes I am frustrated my creations don’t look like the images I had in my head. But most of the time I love following that creative path, one step at a time, to see what appears – not always good… but always interesting :o)
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That;s normal for artists..me too sometimes I start something and end to be something else because I take other directions, but I always like what turns out is part of our creativity and in my opinion is great to be able to improvise while creating 🙂
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The beauty can arise from the strange! When we create…..
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The creative journey always surprises me
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Thanks a lot for following my artblog, it’s much appreciated 🙂
Your cratures I find interesting and full of personality, and I think the final decision of color is just right!
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Nice work! So different to mine, therefore enviable…
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This is so great! You totally inspired me to start working in 3D!!
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Thank you Lotti. I look forward to seeing your first steps in 3D :o)
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