Variety

Sunday, May 1st

     This week was pretty exciting for me! In art, we are told again and again to form our own creative ideas and if we want to use a photo as a reference, we must get permission from the original creator in order to not be sued. I have never had to ask permission, but I decided to give it a shot.

ELEPHANT

      Our family's sponsor child, Mary, is about 11 years old and living in Kenya. We write letters back and forth which I love because I can get a glimpse into her life and the cultural differences between our countries. Recently, she requested of me to draw her an elephant. Pretty sweet right? Commissioned by our sponsor child ((: haha

        

Reference  photo I used taken by Laura Cook

 
     Anyways, I went online and randomly found a beautiful picture of an African elephant. I clicked further to visit the page and emailed the photographer, Laura Cook. I was not fully expecting a response, but...she enthusiastically replied with a "go ahead" and thanked me for asking her permission!

 

Oil Pastel Elephant 

   This photo was really amazing and I felt so honored to be able to use a professional photo to create an oil pastel for Mary. The time lapse unfortunately cut out before I was done because my phone died so I included a photo of the finished piece too.

     The reason I chose this medium is because it was one of my goals way back when we started this project to use a variety of media. Oil pastel is one I have not used a lot and I experimented with different blending and layering techniques. I planned to use the sgraffito technique on the wrinkles(layering one layer on top of another then scratching through to get details in the color of the bottom layer), but ended up liking the smoother texture which I thought gave it an eerie quality. 

SHOES

     This Christmas I received 2 pairs of white canvas shoes intended for me to paint. I hadn't had much time or many ideas considering the shoes, but 20-Time allowed me to focus on them. (: The octopus-inspired-Converse-style ones are my favorite, but I also love the cute simplicity of the cacti. 

     

     One issue I did have while painting these was that I got some paint on the edges and seams, but it ended up washing out alright. 5 of my friends have asked me to paint them some shoes so if you are reading this, I would be happy to create a design for you of your choice if you buy the shoes! 

SPOON JEWELRY

Spoon Rings

     I used some small collector's spoons my mom gave me and put to use a vise and pair of pliers to bend them around a wooden sizer. I originally intended to make them all into rings but made the ends of some into earrings. I was also going throw out the end that is normally used to eat with, but I made 3 of them into a bracelet! The earrings are a bit mis-matchy as one is from Florida and the other Hawaii, but that just keeps it interesting.

Spoon Bracelet

Spoon Earrings

    I surprised myself this week by getting a lot done while meeting one of my goals. The 3 types of things I created were of not-so-mainstream media (metal spoons, canvas shoes, and oil pastel). My box I mentioned in an earlier post is in the kiln and I can't wait to share my projects with you at the 20-Time Project Fair.