Masks - Four Seasons: The Changing Life Cycles

Well I'm pooped!

I've been at it all day...finishing 

up the Masks that is.

And they are DONE!

 

I'd like to say the were real easy..but 

they had me in tears and yesterday 

I realised I was scared of working on 

them, as I didn't want to "stuff them up"!!

So I painted up some sample swatches

to experiment with, that way, any mistakes 

would be made on them and not the masks.

Or so I thought! I was working on the 

Summer Mask and tried to apply a stamp

with Staz-On ink. Of course, I had to be 

BLACK and it had to be the ONE 

permanent ink pad I own...and of course, 

it smudged..and it was the LAST mask!

Fortunately, I hadn't disposed of the paints

on the tray so was able to fix it up.

Oh...and I couldn't find the eye lashes

I'd bought in town on Tuesday so had 

to go back down and get some more.

But, they are completed now 

and I'm really happy with them!

First up is SPRING

 SUMMER...

 AUTUMN...

and WINTER...

Now to display them on the wall....

Over the past few days I've had some ideas

 but that can wait for another day!

TIME: 12 hours (16/17 May)

Masks - Four Seasons

TIME TOTALS FOR MAY: 33 hours

Where I'm Up to....

I wasn't happy with my first paint attempts so came up with this great idea I should have gesso'd them first.

So that's what a did. I applied a coat of gesso. On all four masks, two of which had been previously painted. What NOT to do LOL as they CRACKED! Real bad! I was nearly ready to bin the lot and call it quits with the whole course! But i didn't...i walked away and slept on it...for a few days. And I got a thought...Glue. Add glue. Maybe? What have I got to loose..apart from four cracked masks. And guess what??

 It worked!

 So i started repainting. This time with glue mixed in 

and I found it much easier to apply too!

While that first coast was drying

I did some leaf stencilling on a old

phone book, using coloured ink pads.

 hmmmm....

Not sure if I will use them all. 

Next...the second coat of paint/glue

Looking good. Never mind the brush hairs!

Then adding a second colour 

around the base of the mask...

This is SPRING

 SUMMER

 AUTUMN

I had to "tone that orange down!"

and WINTER...

On to the decorating now...only 5 days

 left of my Certificate to go now!

TIME: 6 hours (13 May)

Masks - painting

Emotions in Pastels...and painting masks

Yesterday, while Miss 17 cooked dinner 

I made a start on "exploring emotions" using pastels

This one is HOT

 ...and this one, COLD

 TRANQUIL...

 PASSION...

..and ANGER.

I really enjoyed doing this and 

exploring feelings with different colours.

I've also did a bit of googling online for inspiration

 for my masks and these are some of the ideas I like...

 Love the wintery barrenness

 More wintery themes

 Ideas for spring...

..love the fresh colours

 ..and the vitality

 Summer - beach

 ...love the texture

 ..and the autumn hues

 

 Cool idea for leaves, maybe...

 I like the idea of using a frame
to display the masks

..and like the wording
on one side of the "face"

My attempt at painting two of the masks

 

Time: 6 hours (May 8/9)
DFAYW#7, Emotions/Feelings with Pastels
Masks, Painting, Four Seasons Art Inspiration online

Masks, Masks...and more masks!

Today I made the fourth mask and painted 

the third one that I made yesterday.

They are pretty rough-looking but I am trying not 

to focus on that too much....

I've also taken more photos of the 

Whangarei Community Tapestry Project 

and up loaded them HERE and HERE

Time: 3 hours (May 7)

Masks, Photography, Tapestry Blog

I wish...

Wish I could paint like this guy...

He doesn't seem afraid of making a mistake!

This is cool too.
Love how she does the lighting on the tree.

Trying to ignore...

I'm trying to ignore the things 

my thoughts are telling me.

Things like "You're useless.."

"You can't do anything right..."

and

 "WHY are you even DOING this??"

Arrgh!!

So not feeling very good today.

Just Pushing Through, so to speak

Here's what I did today...

 The paper mache mask I made

 yesterday was dry this morning

 ...so I gave it a few coats of white paint

Of course, it showed up all the imperfections

which started off my downward thought spiral

 

I made a start of the second mask

and enjoyed the hands-on tactile process.

 While that was put aside for drying..

I thought I'd work on the painted hessian.

As you can see above I made a 

BOTCH-UP with my painting...duh!

 So I had to paint over the centre green area.

Oh...my paper arrived the other day!

This is the flax paper 

I made on campus with Sue Blumskey

I am really happy with it and eventually want to use

handmade paper for my soap labels. Unfortunately,

 the coarse stuff doesn't run though the printer 

terribly well and I need to say what my soaps are etc

I have thought about stamping on lettering

 and have a leaflet that explains the herbal properties

but I'm not sure. I'm still working on this idea...

Time: 5 hours (Saturday 4 May)

Mask-making, Painting on hessian, 

handmade paper,where I'm at, photo editing