So over the months that I ended up spending in Penang, I fell in love with somebody! This is relevant to the art thread because I drew a tattoo for him:
The flowers are plantain lilies, a lucky flower for him. The tattoo artist did a great job!
So I drew this in pencil and intend to paint it with watercolor, but for now there are just some fast digital colors on it since I wanted something to show him in time for his birthday (it's a present). I'm a little worried about losing some of the pencil when I try to put down watercolor but based on my experiments I think it should be pretty ok.
The only significant thing I have to show for the last four months is a project I contributed to a group show around Halloween. Normally a group of performers, for this show they invited a few other types of artists to make work to fill the space. I took the opportunity to make something completely different than my usual stuff, and made an activity.
Since it was a few days before Halloween, the theme was witchiness/occult/death/transition/etc, and we all worked alone. I came up with something like a choose-your-own-adventure spell, which required the viewer to do something for each of the four stages.
I called it "Transmutation Spell" and arranged the four stages in a row with instructions hanging on the wall behind each station. Transmutation refers to changing one substance to another.
Stage 1-
To begin the spell, the viewer needs to do the work of digging through a cabinet densely filled with loaded objects and choose the object that represents her issue. I "bound" abstract notions to things from around my apartment that could be associated with them, with the idea that these memories, forces, spirits are floating around everything and infuse their way into daily life. The mirrored background, torn gauze, and dense space were supposed to make rifling through the box almost feel like digging through a messy mind or viscera. The viewer is instructed to carry her selected object forward to the next stage.
some of the objects
Stage 2-
Next, the viewer needs to ask the spirit world for help with her issue. I created a more contemporary version of a ouija board (emouiji board) to lighten the mood. The planchette contained a magnet, and the back of the board had magnets arranged so that the repulsive forces would make it feel like the planchette was being pushed around while the viewer played with it. The attractive force would land the planchette at either 1, 2, or 3. This is the answer from the spirit needed for the next stage.
Stage 3-
It turns out the spirit's response was to possess the viewer. Uh oh! To represent feeling like your choices and direction are determined by something that's possessing you, I designed a maze that the viewer needed to complete under one of three restrictions on her movement. If she got a 1 on the ouija board she could only take left turns, 2 meant only right turns, and 3 meant using exactly three turns. The maze is solvable under each condition but could involve some frustrating wandering in circles. People actually had a harder time with this than I anticipated, but then again there was free booze at this event so that might have had something to do with it. The background of the maze was a collage of images to taunt them further- maybe you want to go towards the hearts or pizza or music, but instead you have to go through the spooky trees and knives and spiders, etc. By successfully completing the maze, she will have passed over a sequence of three numbers, which represents the 'knowledge' she gained from this crazy experience and is needed for the final stage
Stage 4-
Time to complete the transmutation. The viewer places her problem/object in the belly of the cabinet, and uses her "knowledge" from her journey to open the corresponding box and view the result of the spell. In the box she finds that it has been transformed into a beautiful object with a message attached. The message relays that by going through such trials, the viewer herself is transformed into a more powerful and specialized being. Achievement unlocked.
the potential outcomes
"you have molted. leave the shed, dead pieces behind."
"you have blossomed. embrace the new shape created by what you had carried within."
"you have evolved. feel the power that lies in your new abilities and perspective."
The event was a lot of fun and it was really nice to be involved in a group effort even though we all still made our own pieces. There were 5 performers, four installations including mine, and a bartender trading drinks for either a secret, fear, or personal token.
my piece in action
On the instructions I drew a crow going through the crow equivalent of this process, here's a bit
Aside from this project my art making has been painfully stagnant for some different reasons. But the good news is I landed a solo exhibit for next summer, so I definitely have to get going on some quality pieces now! I missed you, AC.
SO I was in another one of those art shows with that group! This time I wanted to use my little monster guys, so I made a mobile (a big one made out of four little ones) and a few drawings of them. All of the drawings sold as well as one little mobile! Yay!
The whole setup of mine
The group of drawings
The little mobile that sold
The other three
It was extremely fun to try sculpting and mobile making, to bring these guys into the 3D world, and to sell some stuff! I think I have a good idea of how I want my illustrations to look going forward, which incorporates both the more realistic stuff and the goofy imaginative stuff. We'll see how it goes!
Thanks! The pictures from my phone make it look much dimmer than it was, probably because the light in that half of the gallery all came from clip lights that were pretty intense.
Here is a better picture by someone else as they entered the show. You can kind of see my 3 frames hanging in the back left.
Excited to see more pastel animals! Those were always very pretty. I really like the dog portrait as it seems very well framed in the page, which I feel like does a lot to make something feel complete.
Posts
The flowers are plantain lilies, a lucky flower for him. The tattoo artist did a great job!
facebook.com/LauraCatherwoodArt
facebook.com/LauraCatherwoodArt
The only significant thing I have to show for the last four months is a project I contributed to a group show around Halloween. Normally a group of performers, for this show they invited a few other types of artists to make work to fill the space. I took the opportunity to make something completely different than my usual stuff, and made an activity.
Since it was a few days before Halloween, the theme was witchiness/occult/death/transition/etc, and we all worked alone. I came up with something like a choose-your-own-adventure spell, which required the viewer to do something for each of the four stages.
I called it "Transmutation Spell" and arranged the four stages in a row with instructions hanging on the wall behind each station. Transmutation refers to changing one substance to another.
Stage 1-
To begin the spell, the viewer needs to do the work of digging through a cabinet densely filled with loaded objects and choose the object that represents her issue. I "bound" abstract notions to things from around my apartment that could be associated with them, with the idea that these memories, forces, spirits are floating around everything and infuse their way into daily life. The mirrored background, torn gauze, and dense space were supposed to make rifling through the box almost feel like digging through a messy mind or viscera. The viewer is instructed to carry her selected object forward to the next stage.
some of the objects
Stage 2-
Next, the viewer needs to ask the spirit world for help with her issue. I created a more contemporary version of a ouija board (emouiji board) to lighten the mood. The planchette contained a magnet, and the back of the board had magnets arranged so that the repulsive forces would make it feel like the planchette was being pushed around while the viewer played with it. The attractive force would land the planchette at either 1, 2, or 3. This is the answer from the spirit needed for the next stage.
Stage 3-
It turns out the spirit's response was to possess the viewer. Uh oh! To represent feeling like your choices and direction are determined by something that's possessing you, I designed a maze that the viewer needed to complete under one of three restrictions on her movement. If she got a 1 on the ouija board she could only take left turns, 2 meant only right turns, and 3 meant using exactly three turns. The maze is solvable under each condition but could involve some frustrating wandering in circles. People actually had a harder time with this than I anticipated, but then again there was free booze at this event so that might have had something to do with it. The background of the maze was a collage of images to taunt them further- maybe you want to go towards the hearts or pizza or music, but instead you have to go through the spooky trees and knives and spiders, etc. By successfully completing the maze, she will have passed over a sequence of three numbers, which represents the 'knowledge' she gained from this crazy experience and is needed for the final stage
Stage 4-
Time to complete the transmutation. The viewer places her problem/object in the belly of the cabinet, and uses her "knowledge" from her journey to open the corresponding box and view the result of the spell. In the box she finds that it has been transformed into a beautiful object with a message attached. The message relays that by going through such trials, the viewer herself is transformed into a more powerful and specialized being. Achievement unlocked.
the potential outcomes
"you have molted. leave the shed, dead pieces behind."
"you have blossomed. embrace the new shape created by what you had carried within."
"you have evolved. feel the power that lies in your new abilities and perspective."
The event was a lot of fun and it was really nice to be involved in a group effort even though we all still made our own pieces. There were 5 performers, four installations including mine, and a bartender trading drinks for either a secret, fear, or personal token.
my piece in action
On the instructions I drew a crow going through the crow equivalent of this process, here's a bit
Aside from this project my art making has been painfully stagnant for some different reasons. But the good news is I landed a solo exhibit for next summer, so I definitely have to get going on some quality pieces now! I missed you, AC.
facebook.com/LauraCatherwoodArt
Uncanny Magazine!
The Mad Writers Union
I am starting my first creative piece for my show this summer. It's about 24"x18" on wood panel. The drawing is done but I haven't begun painting yet.
I am a little nervous about all the tiny shapes, but that's the choice I made in drawing so I'll have to deal with it.
facebook.com/LauraCatherwoodArt
facebook.com/LauraCatherwoodArt
facebook.com/LauraCatherwoodArt
The whole setup of mine
The group of drawings
The little mobile that sold
The other three
It was extremely fun to try sculpting and mobile making, to bring these guys into the 3D world, and to sell some stuff! I think I have a good idea of how I want my illustrations to look going forward, which incorporates both the more realistic stuff and the goofy imaginative stuff. We'll see how it goes!
facebook.com/LauraCatherwoodArt
Here is a better picture by someone else as they entered the show. You can kind of see my 3 frames hanging in the back left.
facebook.com/LauraCatherwoodArt
Couldn't believe it had been over two years since my last animal pastel.
facebook.com/LauraCatherwoodArt
I've been getting more commissions lately! But I'm still trying to buckle down and get more work done for my show :P
facebook.com/LauraCatherwoodArt
Pets!
facebook.com/LauraCatherwoodArt