Did I even learn my lesson last time? Seeds make a mess, a HUGE mess! Alas, I'm kind of in love with the organic look they give, the texture and color and connection with my childhood they make me feel, so I don't think I'll stop using them any time soon. I'll just have to learn to have a better attitude about sweeping I suppose.
I purchased this large board at Lowes about a week ago, truly without any sort of idea in mind other than a recommendation to "go larger". As I was walking to check out, I noticed the display of birdseed along the wall, and tempted in part by the fun I had with a birdseed piece I made a while ago (and in part by this super handsome Lowes employee in a beanie) I decided to go check it out. The next thing I knew, I was struggling to carry a 10 pound bag of birdseed and a 5 foot board across the parking lot to my car.
The thing is, I still didn't know what I wanted to do. I had my materials, materials that made me smile and feel compelled to create something beautiful, but the question was--what? I sat for a while just staring at this board, sketching random things on the back of a scrap piece of paper, and then I saw her.
There she was, like she was just waiting for me to find her. Her skirts swept off the sides of the board, too wide to be contained by it's edges, and her sleeves billowed as if the wind was brushing through them. Before I lost her I traced her outline, and then I knew just what I had to do.
I stained the background behind her to make her truly stand out, but it hardly felt like enough. So I began to build her skirt, inch by inch, seed by seed. Some might call it tedious, painstaking work, but I find it relaxing; I find comfort in the repetitive motion, slowly watching the image come together. I plan on filling her skirt with the seeds up about a third of the board in a lightening effect, the seeds becoming more scarce and bright as they rise up her skirts. I was also inspired today by the work of Gustav Klimt, and hope to perhaps create variations of his beautiful geometric images on the upper part of my canvas, to truly make the woman in the wood stand out.
I purchased this large board at Lowes about a week ago, truly without any sort of idea in mind other than a recommendation to "go larger". As I was walking to check out, I noticed the display of birdseed along the wall, and tempted in part by the fun I had with a birdseed piece I made a while ago (and in part by this super handsome Lowes employee in a beanie) I decided to go check it out. The next thing I knew, I was struggling to carry a 10 pound bag of birdseed and a 5 foot board across the parking lot to my car.
The thing is, I still didn't know what I wanted to do. I had my materials, materials that made me smile and feel compelled to create something beautiful, but the question was--what? I sat for a while just staring at this board, sketching random things on the back of a scrap piece of paper, and then I saw her.
There she was, like she was just waiting for me to find her. Her skirts swept off the sides of the board, too wide to be contained by it's edges, and her sleeves billowed as if the wind was brushing through them. Before I lost her I traced her outline, and then I knew just what I had to do.
I stained the background behind her to make her truly stand out, but it hardly felt like enough. So I began to build her skirt, inch by inch, seed by seed. Some might call it tedious, painstaking work, but I find it relaxing; I find comfort in the repetitive motion, slowly watching the image come together. I plan on filling her skirt with the seeds up about a third of the board in a lightening effect, the seeds becoming more scarce and bright as they rise up her skirts. I was also inspired today by the work of Gustav Klimt, and hope to perhaps create variations of his beautiful geometric images on the upper part of my canvas, to truly make the woman in the wood stand out.