Absence Spreads

Infectious Curls (For Creative Tuesdays)

Over at Creative Tuesdays, the theme this week is Curl.  Another really neat and very open-ended topic, where virtually anything seemed fair game. My initial thought was to just go all chester cheetah here, having crunchy cheese curls all over the canvas, but that would just tempt me to go buy a big, and seeing I've been doing so well on my diet, didn't want to tempt fate :) 

So, I simply startled by splashing the paint about, trying to figure out how and where I would incorporate curls into the work.  The painting I came up with really had this fantasy feel to it, unfortunately the curls I made with a very thin knife, one I never used before, which created an etching effect, but unfortunately, unless I blew the painting up to full screen mode, all those intricate little curls just did not show.

I learned something here.  When not sure how something is going to look, stop and examine it before you spend another forty minutes doing the same thing, especially when what you're doing is detailing.

So, I decided at this point, to try and highlight over as many of the etched curls that I could.  A very interesting thing happened.  Where the etched curls reminded me of carvings, glyphs etc..the black highlights reminded me of disease, viruses and the like.  So, I went with it, and added a few additional curls in fluorescent colors, hinting upon either an antibody forming, or new strands of the virus being born, thus causing even more problem.

After I was done with it, I think it turned out more like a multi-layered graffiti piece, which is fine, just mentioned it, as I definitely found it interesting how an idea of how something looks while you're working on it, can actually vary greatly from how it appears when done, even more so, when you save it, then come back to it with a fresh set of eyes hours later.

Head on over to Creative Tuesdays, and see all the curls immortalized this week in the ever enjoyable and impressive artwork created by all those at CT.  And hey, it's early, so perhaps you'll feel inspired to do a curl of your own.  If you do, share it, but first read the guidelines.  Enjoy.

The Damaging Tilt of Teenage Seclusion

I used to love Pinball.  As a kid I would go over to the mall every weekend, but not for the same reason as all the other kids.  Nope, I wouldn't meander aimlessly throughout, hopping from table to table in the food court.  No, I went right into the arcade and played pinball all the time.  Would spend the entire day there.  Unfortunately, as much as I enjoyed playing, I never was a Pinball Wizard, which, in a way, I suppose is a good thing.

Nevertheless, I thought I would see about coming up with an abstractly layered piece to pay tribute to those long since past days.  Funny thing, after doing this piece I happened to stop by that old arcade, still there after this many years-guess I wasn't the only kid to waste away their weekends in this way.  But I sat their and played a few games of pinball, and I have to say, although I never was great at the game, this adult cannot hold a candle to that child.  I just wasn't into it and believe me, the memories made me want to be, so badly too.  But change happens, oh well.  I really hope when I'm seventy I don't post that I used to enjoy reading, telling stories and trying to display my thoughts/ideas visually.