Stuck in the Forest
 

I thought I would share a collage that is currently in progress and maybe get some ideas about the problem area, which is - What shall I put in her hand?

Here is how it stands now:

http://i1138.photobucket.com/albums/...acedetails.jpg

It started out as the beginnings of a painting, by a friend, of a Lily of the Nile growing by a fence, which she rejected. She was clearing out stuff and gave me some old canvasses. So that is what all the purple is at this stage.

http://i1138.photobucket.com/albums/.../beginning.jpg

I took some photos of my daughter for reference...

http://i1138.photobucket.com/albums/...Forest/AAA.jpg


In my usual bass-adkwards fashion, I applied some wood veneer for the skin before laying out the entire composition.

http://i1138.photobucket.com/albums/...inninghand.jpg

Then I started laying in the composition...

http://i1138.photobucket.com/albums/.../Blockedin.jpg

Next I started applying the forest which is made of strips of tulle; mesh bags from fruit, specifically lemons; and fussy-cut motifs from wallpaper samples. Some of the bright yellow was painted as well.

I also applied some new wood veneer on top of the old because I hated the face. I did not mind the added height of the additional veneer because her hair is going to be made of blown out cassette tape and it will be higher anyway.

http://i1138.photobucket.com/albums/...t/newwood3.jpg

Most of the black that you see in her clothing will eventually be armor made of yogurt lids; coffee can seals; and granola bar wrappers, so you must imagine this as silver not black.

Next, I started to enhance the details of her face with colored pencil, and the details of the forest with beads. I applied beads to her eyes too.

http://i1138.photobucket.com/albums/...adswforest.jpg

http://i1138.photobucket.com/albums/...estdetails.jpg

So that's where I am now

But I can't even begin the middle ground foliage nor the palm of her hand till I know what's in it. Some thoughts I had...

The Earth? Too preachy about the environment.

An uncut yogurt lid? Also too preachy.

A sword? Well, by the position of her hand, that would have to balance horizontally and that would take it right across her armor. This is why bass-ackwards is bad.

A star, a heart....eh. Too cliche.

A bird? Maybe.

My daughter was surprised that there would be anything in her hand and she want's it empty. My problem with that is, if she were reaching out, here eyes should be on the viewer. What do you think?

Any fabulous ideas, Folks?

My first reaction was the same as your daughter's. Nothing. There is an air of regret in the face at the moment which speaks of absence. Also there is the illusion of another pair of eyes in the dark area on the torso, echoing the look.

Her eye could be on her empty hand in anticipation of what ever comes next.

I don't want to see anything in her hand.

Thanks Ann, Andrew and Cyn. I guess less leaves more to the viewer's imagination.

It's good as it is, leave it alone, don't guild the lilly.

Do you mean the entire piece, Ross? *gasp* Do you mean that I should leave the hand empty?

Sharon --

I'll join the chorus. My first reaction, before I read the other replies, was that the hand should be empty. Also I think it better that the girl look at the hand. Looking at the viewer with an empty hand is a kind of cliché, IMO. Looking at the hand adds mystery and will prompt many viewers to provide their own questions and answers.

-- Woody

I also thought the hand should be empty. You would wreck a little magic if you put an apple or a bird in it.

Really like the picture... And wonderful to see the process.

Rick

*Smiling at Rick's comment about "magic"* Thanks, Rick.

Well, it looks like the empties have it! I am beginning to agree with what people are saying. Thanks for the input, Folks. Thoughts on the rest of the collage are also welcome :-)

Here's how it's looking now........
The different look of the colors is due to lighting. What has changed is the foliage in the middle ground (not finished yet) and the chain-mail sleeve and collar. All of this is done with hole-punch dots. The chain-mail is metallic in the highlight areas. The dots in that area are punched from yogurt lids.

http://i1138.photobucket.com/albums/...e3db550a39.jpg


http://i1138.photobucket.com/albums/...f7701e4057.jpg

Yes, fill the foreground with shiny things because the background is dull. What are you going to do with the hand? It's the weakest part. Bare. Uninteresting. Waste of space. Crush some pearls or shave some gold.

:)

Miya

I've been thinking about this. The reason I like the empty hand is because the viewer doesn't know if the girl has just relinquished something or is asking for something. An empty hand works both ways.

Or perhaps she is beckoning.

This was an aha painting for me Sharon, because I didn't see the photo before I looked at the painting (as it now stands). I realized how closely the creative process is in art and words. I should have known this, but it was brought home so strongly. What you first observe bears little relationship to the final product; it is distilled until only the essence remains.

Thank you. Much enjoyed.

Thank you, Janice :-) I agree. The arts are also similar in that they are all about relationships and contrast. That makes them a cousin of cooking too!

Miya, any part of this canvas that is only bare paint is not finished yet, actually, not even begun yet, aside from very sketchy layout.This means the area behind her hand, her cloak, skirt and armor (the black areas) her hair, and especially the palm of her hand. None of these are done.

http://i1138.photobucket.com/albums/...st/roughly.jpg

The reason I am posting unfinished work is to see if this will work better for this forum. It seems clear to me that the art forums can not function the same way the poetry forums do.

Visual art is different than poetry in that, because a poem is text, it can continue to be work-shopped even when it is very very close to its final form. This is not true of visual art. Major changes in a painting can ruin it at that stage. How do you make use of a critique of a nearly finished sculpture?

This has always seemed problematic to me as far as this forum goes. So far it has been mainly finished work getting posted. You can critique finished work but you can't workshop it, it accomplishes nothing. It's like pointing out a run in your friend's stocking after you get to the restaurant when it should have been said at the house. If we could get at it while it's in progress we could have lots of fun, especially in this computer age where we can mess with the digital copy before touching the real one.

But...

My instinct tells me that visual artists don't want anyone to see a work until it's done. Hmmmm a bit of a dilemma huh? Soooooo....this is my experiment. I would say this collage is about 50% finished. In the end every bit of canvas will be covered with "stuff". Sadly, pearls and gold won't be happening.

Sharon, I'm not nuts about the empty hand, or the look on her face.

Hand: empty is a very easy way out. Were you to have a fraction of something, to the viewer's left of her hand, right on that margin, at hand level or slightly above, we wd be wondering: what is it? is it about to fall into her hand, or did it just blow away? Were it below the hand then we are left with nothing to ponder.

Face: a touch of surprise might be more interesting. What happened that was unexpected? Is this thing about to fall into her hand? did it slip away unexpectedly? Let the viewer reach her/his own conclusions, perhaps.

good luck with this, nice to see how work's progressing.

sic transit
 

I thought of some kind of momento mori in her hand. Her expression seems to grow more sombre as the collage progresses.

Steve

Hey Sharon,

"And I will show something different from either
your shadow at morning striding behind you
or your shadow at evening rising to meet you;
I will show you fear in a handful of dust."

--from The Waste Land, T. S. Eliot

I could see you doing something here that touches upon mortality, like Eliot's "handful of dust," or, really, anything that juxtaposes her youth and air of innocence. A wasp could work.

I hope that helps stimulate your creative process.

Best regards,

Wes

PS. Can I post my horse now? (<--You probably have no recollection of my reference. ;-) )

I would say the black dress/dark colours of the figure and the dull green of the background is making the hand jump out too much into the foreground, in the version where the colours are lighter the hand looks more natural.
cheers
Ross

For some reason, this reminds me of Joan of Arc saying, "Come. Join me. Let's fight in the name of God." It's the metallic material, I think, resembling that of a body armor. I can't wait to see the finished product.

Raul

This Living Hand, by John Keats.

The only poem I can recite completely. My memory is swiss cheese.

The hand has to be empty.

Thanks Ross, Paul and William.

Ross - The thing is - that black area isn't even begun yet. This is the meaning of the last image I posted - some of the image has lines through it indicating that I have not begun that area yet. Her bodice will all be shiny metal amour. I think her cape will be indigo, especially since my children requested that it not be red. Also, when you look at some of the images posted further back, and some look darker than others - that is just lighting.

Paul - Thank you. I hadn't thought of Joan of Arc but now she will be in my mind when I work on this. I can't wait to see it finished either.

William - Wow! Thank you - it was a thrill to read that.

Thanks Seree, Steve and Wes,

Seree, sadly, there is not much I can do about changing the face now, I am attempting some small changes but this is sheets of wood veneer glued to the surface of my canvas. On top of that, I have worked on it with some colored pencil. The eyes have areas of glass beads applied. I wasn't fully happy with the face and recently I went at the mouth kind of vigorously with an eraser. Now it's a bit more subtle but... huge changes are just not possible at this point. There are some changes I wanted to make on her eyebrows too. We will see how it works out in the end.

Still thinking about the hand. I like the idea that she may be beckoning.

Steve, if something were to be in her hand, that would be a way better idea than what I was thinking about originally - all my first ideas were so cliche.

Wes, That is an interesting idea too and dust could slip through the fingers. I don't get your refrence but if you are asking if you can post in this forum - Yes! Please do!

Yes. Leave the hand empty, but it would have a different effect if she looks out to the viewer. Lovely work