Happiness Renewed, Inspiration Found

Sorry for the long hiatus anyone who still remembers my blog.  The past month I sort of went through a phase, I think.  I lost my purpose, my artistic purpose, that is.  I didn't really know why I created things.  Was it for attention, was it for grades, was it for recognition?  I had no idea.  So I just sort of stopped.  As far as I know, I didn't break my challenge during this time period, but I worked on things slowly and half-heartedly.  I suppose it helped that I have art classes on both A and B days and the fact that I needed to finish my Hallowe'en costume, but even then, it was almost painful to pick up a brush or sit down at my sewing machine.  I felt lost.  That is, until I began filling out an application for the Fine Arts Sterling Scholar.  I don't remember the exact question, but I began to talk about how art makes me happy.  A sure fire way to help cheer myself up is work on something fun and whimsical.  I've tried 'expressing' my feelings through art before - y'know, drawing furiously when I'm angry, but that just makes me angrier.  I explained that rather than expressing myself through art, I was really changing myself through it.  I pledged then and there that my art will always be for me.  I don't want to get caught up in what the world thinks I should be doing with my talents.  When I do the things I truly love, then I am happy, and that's when I create my best works, in my opinion at least.  Art is my safe haven, it's something that I can always fall back on in times of need.  If I like what I create, that's all that matters, and if other people like it then it's a huge bonus.  Maybe that's a selfish view of things, but if I can't be happy with my art then what's the point?  This new realization has also led me to want to research the use of art in psychology.  I don't know if there are any studies out there, but I think that there could be.

Anyways,  like I said, I've been working slowly lately so I don't have all that much to show, but at least I do have something.

 Here it is!  My Hallowe'en costume sort of mostly completed.  I'd like to go back and actually make shoes and some other accessories, but I didn't have the time before Hallowe'en.  I'm also planning on taking some more 'action' shots some time and some detail shots.  But that might have to wait until our snow disappears.

This one just shows the liripipe part of my hood a little better.  The hood is probably my favorite part of the whole costume, and, surprisingly, it was probably the easiest.  I might also be using this costume in my AP portfolio.

Also, on All Hallows Eve, I got to go help out my high school do this thing called "Haunted Hallways" where all the clubs put together different rooms for little kids to come trick-or-treating at.  I was with the Art Club (surprise, surprise) and we painted kids' faces.  It was a lot of fun and a real neat experience.

And now, my favorite art doll I have possibly ever done:

 It's a robot!  Whose name is Audubon.

 I recently read about this material called Pearl Ex powder that creates this wonderful metallic look on sculpey.  I bought it thinking that it would probably fail, just like every other 'normal' technique I try, but it didn't.  It worked . . . amazingly well.  Then I thought I was going to ruin it by brushing green paint over everything, but that didn't seem to fail either.  I think it created a rather nice patina effect.   I'm so happy with the texture and colors!

 I also really like the asymmetry of his legs.  And the fact that he can stand by himself.

 Oh look, there's the ever-amazing Pearl-Ex powder hanging around in the background.

 Ta-Dah!  He's got wings now.

 And a hat.

 And also a scarf.

 Here he is with no hat.  I was trying to decide at the time whether to do the hat or not, although I think I'm pretty set on having him wear it.

 Here's just a close-up of the belt thing that holds his wings on.  I really like the uneven stitching on the one side.  It has character.

Just some specs: He's 8 inches tall, has a wingspan of 11 inches, and he took about seven to eight hours of loving labor.  He's made from Original Sculpey, various types of wire, 2 alligator clamps, 2 screws, a nut, a broken endpin of a cello, blue ribbon which came off a pair of pants I wore out, fabric and thread, feathers I've collected while walking, copper Pearl-Ex Powder, green paint, a found object, and a matte finish fixative.  Oh, and love.  A whole lot of love.