The beginnings of something special. One of my favorite sayings is "God doesn't make mistakes." I remind myself of this whenever things seem dim and I am immediately filled with optimism. It is evident in nature, the simpliest of forms are perfect if you look closely.One of my favorite mediums is bare branches from trees and shrubs. I love to wire them together into wreaths and various shaped sculptures. They hold up really well when you seal them with paint or water sealer.
The photo above is the twiggy sculpture I put together for my shoppe, GardenologyKC this week. It all began with the Spring 2009 bag tag design Lyssa created for the shoppe. I will upload the tag later as it is posting as a blue background for some unknown reason at present instead of sprout green. Lyssa is a uber talented graphics artist. She is amazing and is destined for great things. I have been blessed with in my life as she cruises along on her life journey. She makes me smile - a gift for which I am most grateful.
I then sprayed the branches with florist spray using a lighter green 'Prairie Grass" for my base coat and then coated it with the topcoat of "Basil" for the final coat. You need to spray a lighter base coat to keep the topcoat to a true color or hue. It took two full cans of floral spray for a twiggy sculpture of 6'5" by 5".
Here's Lyssa tackling the tedious part of the sculpture by cutting each individual beetle, bird, spider, mushroom, crane, duck, coral, botanical, etc. by hand. Some were cut out using scissors, some required an xacto knife. Very tedious, but very exciting as the various creatures were placed in the twig sculpture as we went. Lyssa tackled the more detailed elements as she has lots of patience for detailed work. I did the more basic elements like the mushrooms and birds.
Here's Lyssa selecting the next "spot" for the elements as we finished them - it was like a treat for finishing a element. Immediate gratification, who can resist it?
High tech gear around the shoppe, Lyssa scaled the stool and balanced on the very top to place the high elements - "We don't need no stinking ladders!" It was scary for me to watch her...I was really relieved when she climbed back to ground level without falling. Whew and holy crap!
A closeup shot of the branches and critters tucked into the branches cut from card stock in charcoal, black and sprout green. Don't you love the plumped bird in the branches? It may be my favorite. It's a toss up between the plumped up bird and the duck flying in for a landing. I haven't decided yet. I have asked for a lobster to be placed in the branches.... so it's still in the air which will be my favorite.
Isn't it sweet? I LOVE-LOVE-LOVE it! It's fresh, interesting, subtle and made of simple materials - YAHTZEE!
To make this twiggy sculpture, I grabbed my Wolf Garten pruners and headed into the tree line to begin pruning limbs from the trees. I would cut off a promising branch and then throw it into the clearing. I began forming the shape with the larger branches as the base and began wiring all the branches together in layers working my way to the outside of the design.
I then sprayed the branches with florist spray using a lighter green 'Prairie Grass" for my base coat and then coated it with the topcoat of "Basil" for the final coat. You need to spray a lighter base coat to keep the topcoat to a true color or hue. It took two full cans of floral spray for a twiggy sculpture of 6'5" by 5".
Here's Lyssa tackling the tedious part of the sculpture by cutting each individual beetle, bird, spider, mushroom, crane, duck, coral, botanical, etc. by hand. Some were cut out using scissors, some required an xacto knife. Very tedious, but very exciting as the various creatures were placed in the twig sculpture as we went. Lyssa tackled the more detailed elements as she has lots of patience for detailed work. I did the more basic elements like the mushrooms and birds.
Here's Lyssa selecting the next "spot" for the elements as we finished them - it was like a treat for finishing a element. Immediate gratification, who can resist it?
High tech gear around the shoppe, Lyssa scaled the stool and balanced on the very top to place the high elements - "We don't need no stinking ladders!" It was scary for me to watch her...I was really relieved when she climbed back to ground level without falling. Whew and holy crap!
A closeup shot of the branches and critters tucked into the branches cut from card stock in charcoal, black and sprout green. Don't you love the plumped bird in the branches? It may be my favorite. It's a toss up between the plumped up bird and the duck flying in for a landing. I haven't decided yet. I have asked for a lobster to be placed in the branches.... so it's still in the air which will be my favorite.
Isn't it sweet? I LOVE-LOVE-LOVE it! It's fresh, interesting, subtle and made of simple materials - YAHTZEE!
2 comments:
Very cool organic!
Sublime use of word and 3d image. Please take care on the stool though! My mother fell from a stool the same height when she was getting christmas decorations from a cupboard. She broke her ankle quite badly and still walks with a limp years later.
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