I set aside the piece with which I was struggling as advised by my valued teacher/supporter. What a smart suggestion! After cursing a lot at my printer and snarking at Photoshop, I worked on a different project for a while. Glancing at the unfinished bits today, I picked them up and started tweaking and, hurray for me, got an idea and ran with it. Progress! Tomorrow I'll make the support stand, but the primary piece is finished.
My sister called me tonight and we talked about art for a while. She's amazing. We make very different art and have very different styles. Her style - make what you love, love what you make, and to heck with what anyone else thinks. She is happily prolific in her creativity. Her work has been selling at a consignment shop in northern Minnesota where she lives. I listened to her tell me about having had to drop the prices on some of her work but just flat out refusing on others (the ones that sold!), as well as sharing about taking up more merchandise yesterday. Not once did she ever express reluctance to share her artwork, nor worry about whether or not anyone would like or buy it. Oh, and she works in whatever tiny little corner she can find in her home, without the benefit of a well-stocked studio like me.
From what gene pool did I spring? I've been such a prat.
This is the body I finished today:
Have I blabbed on about the second piece? I want to focus on past generations, people to whom I owe my life, quite literally. These are the beautiful and soulful eyes of previous generations of my family - my mother, my grandparents, my great grandparents and other members of the family that passed away decades ago. They should be more than simply unidentified faces in photos tucked in a box in the closet or under the bed. This will be an interesting project. I have played with gradient backgrounds (the printed fabric isn't as much blue as faintly bluish shades of gray) and layers. If nothing else, I do like the fabric.
More play time tomorrow...
