AP Summer Project #4: Architectural Structure

Once again, a little more non-conventional. I tried a new technique, combining encaustic and Liquitex. I cute out 24 small squares, 24 medium squares, and 24 large squares. The smallest squares are composed of a marketplace scene in New Mexico on a postcard from the fifties or sixties. If you imagine that the smallest squares are pushed together as one unit, you can see the image as a whole. To help you identify this, look at the first column, second row. You will notice that in this square, the lower half is a darker/royal blue. Bring your attention to the square to the right of this square (column two, row two) and you will notice that the royal blue from the last square is continued in this square. This blue comes together to create a mountain in the background. In the foreground, people are gathered around a marketplace watching a parade of sorts. The medium and large squares are made of papers that showcase other New Mexican locations. After I encausted the three layers of squares together, I embellished them with thread, pins, wire, lace, ribbon, buttons, snaps, and even a brooch/ pendant (as the focal point). To create the background I placed a large piece of lace onto paper and used colored wax to create a rust orange, attaching the lace to the paper. After the wax had dried, I peeled the lace off of the large sheet of paper. The lace now had the same rust orange color as the background. I used Liquitex to attach it to a fresh white piece of paper. After it dried I attached all of the smaller squares with another coat of Liquitex. After this step was complete, I had a nearly finished product. I used the rust orange colored paper that I had pulled the lace off of to create a mat for the piece as a whole. The rust orange colored piece has a relief of the lace, which was a subtle but nice effect. I really like the idea for this piece. I hope that the architectural design is still identifiable in the photo. So, four down, ONE (summer piece) to go! :)

AP Summer Project #3: Inside of a Closet

Summer Piece #3: The Inside of the Closet. Like my second summer piece, this is not an obvious "closet." Instead, I thought of the inside of a closet. Things like clothes, shoes, jewelry, etc.(fashion) came to mind. Instead of focusing on the closet itself, I focused on it's contents. I used wax, pins, found papers, embroidery thread, thread, lace, and an antique button to create this. The lady in the center image is admiring her own shoes. I thought that she looked very "Flapper-esque", in turn she appeared to be very stylish. I also used the antique embellishment in the bottom-left corner. I thought that the colors in the button brought out the colors in the found papers. I experimented with a new technique (I couldn't really capture this with the camera) in which I ironed a piece of lace onto the center and peeled it off after it had dried. It created a texture that was more or less a relief of the lace. It turned out pretty neat. I have recently noticed that I enjoy playing with horizontal and vertical lines in my pieces. The lines are usually different lengths or widths, creating variety...This could possibly evolve into a minor concentration??? Apart from that, I couldn't decide if I liked the silver wax matting behind the image or not. I tried photographing it with and without the mat. Opinions? I think that I like it, but I am not completely convinced. I thought that it would be interesting to experiment with using the metallic mat to enhance the metallic details in the piece itself. Overall, I would say that I am slightly disappointed in this. It isn't horrible, I just had a completely different image in my head. I think that I really like the prompt, but I wish that I could have done a better job carrying out my plan. I definitely think that I will come back to this prompt at a later date.