A selection of finished birds; painting the birds

The birds are nice to hold, and striking to see.


The enamel paint that I used is smooth and thick but can disguise only the slightest surface irregularites. So, for the birds to achieve their true potential, their surfaces should be much smoother before painting.


The paint is too thick to allow delicate detailing, so the birds' designs must aim for boldness over complexity.


In general, I am happy with this batch: the birds are bold and amusing, and there are inevitably hitches in any new projects.

And craft processes proceed in very definate stages, so if you screw up in one of the stages, you usually have to take several steps back to rectify your mistake; given that each stage usually has to dry, experimentation can become laborious.

Birds

A finished bird*

Wire legs inserted, a papier mache bird prepares itself to be covered in a plaster/pva/ water mix in an experiment for improved surface smoothness.

Three birds and one boy are covered liberally in the paste, whioh has the consistency of double cream....

...then they are hung out to dry.

This is attempt to improve surface smoothness of papier-mâché. The enamel paints I use do disguise a multitude of sins, but not enough to make such experiments redundant.

*Chateau Esclimont, photo by Frederick Evans, pub. Mitchell Beazley 1994 in "The Chateaux of France" by Marcus Binney.

Sleepy Hollow (1999): review- 6/10

For some reason the film-makers traduced themselves.

The film starts off elegantly and wittily and both Depp and Ricci are enchanting, and there are some potentially interesting themes introduced about the limits of reason.

But the film then declines into a fomulaic action piece (albeit with gothic trappings) following obvious Hollywood conventions and becomes tedious.

The art direction is stunning. Alas, there is a cartoonishness about the film that seems very American to me.

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This is the first of the film reviews I shall be publishing here. Previous reviews have been available on http://rateyourmusic.com/~tadeusz598

These reviews are written to be as concise as possible, and rarely contain plot summaries.

I shall, over time, transfer these reviews (and possibly re-write these in the process) from Rateyourmusic to here.

Covering the wire: notes

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Notes

-The skin of the mask is not smooth enough. Plaster of paris does not work as a filler because it is too brittle, and papier mache cannot be sanded. I think the best thing is to continue to add layers of very thin paper so the ridges formed by their edges isn't too great

-There must be a product that is like a sort of thick cream which can be used in these circumstances, to provide a smooth surface to craft items, but what exactly I don't know. It can be quite messy experimenting with these things, but perhaps pva mixed with plaster?

-I shall also add eyelids and better the nostrils.

-A possibility I didn't explore is to use cloth- muslin, I guess, over the wire.

-The wire I used is too thick, so that large "knots" are created when wires are joined.

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It's very enjoyable seeing the "personality" emerging from the mask. At what point is the thing finished?: the suggestive roughness of the mask in its current state is evocative.

Wire faces, masks; toys and art; labels

Earlier

Later

It is quite hard work shaping his copper wire to form an armature, which will be the basis of a mask: the wire ends are sharp and can cut your fingers wickedly. I think these armatures need a bit more tweaking, especially around the moth.

It is also quite hard to work the wire in three dimensions to make a good face shape. I think perhaps using wire netting might have been an easier option.

I find with these craft pieces that often in their earlier stages they are more striking, weirder, and as they progress they become less suggestive and more like mere toys. I intend this mask to be quite realistic. I think the more realistic masks are, the creepier.

What is the difference between a toy and a work of art? I suppose a toy is necessarily restricted in intention, while that of an artwork is diffuse, though its purposes are first of all aesthetic.

I love the interactivity of masks; they cross and confuse the boundaries between toy and artwork, between serious and silly like nothing else I can think of.

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Regular visitors will see that there are now labels at the bottom of the page, making it much easier and fun to find things on this blog.

Papier-mâché birds - Final stages, finishing touches

All the birds need some last touches: from left to right: Woodpecker - detail beak and face; Blue- paint legs; White - detail the eyes; Blue (open beak)- make adjustments to legs/claws; Brown- repaint beak; Boy- paint; Small white bird - improve tail and eyes; Heron- repaint beak



This sort of work can go on and on: I suspect that folk art, which often uses labour intensive methods, came into being partly to use up time.

Perhaps because Papier-mâché is a new medium for me, I don't know quite when to declare the piece over. In truth, I don't really have the patience for very slow craft processes, aso anything I work on has to be finishable in about 4 stages or I go very much off the boil. Also, I think the charm of these things must lie in their hand-made roughness, and the level of abstraction that comes with it.

Papier-mâché has existed for centuries but there isn't - so far as I can see from the various sites- a real canon of Papier-mâché artists. This means one can make it up as one goes along.

This is something of a relief coming from the world of Fine Art, where one is constantly aware of a pressure to compare onself and compete, even with various "Masters".

When I've finished these birds I shall probably make some aeroplanes.

The sea near Praia Mole, Florianopolis

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The sea near Praia Mole, Florianopolis, Oil on card, 12.8 x 8.2 cm, AVAILABLE

Today's picture was painted by the sea.

The best way to paint the sea, I find, is to paint a general background colour for the water and for the sky, and then to watch patiently for a while to get a sense of the rhythm of the waves, before sketching them in along with any clouds. It is never easy when the tide is coming in rapidly, however.

It's best, also, to use a very limited palette or I find I get into a mess. You have to accept that you'll never capture all the aspects of the sea in each picture: you can look forwards to showing other aspects in your next painting.

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