Wednesday, February 18, 2015

DLP 2015 Week 7 -- The Big Coverup

This is what we were given to work with this week by the good folks at The Documented Life Project:

February Theme
Layers You Will Love!
February 14
Art Challenge:  Cover Up Good Stuff
Journal Prompt:  Going Undercover


There was a lot of chatter on the DLP FB page about this. I think for a lot of people, especially the beginners, the thought of creating something "nice," and then obliterating it was nightmareish. I am much more a process person than a product oriented one, so I don't mind. Besides, I do look at this as a useful exercise in not taking myself too seriously, and not regarding my art as "precious." As I used to tell my second graders, "it's only paper!" And some very talented artists, like Anne Bagby, Flora Bowley, and Tracey Verdugo have offered up the same philosophy. Sometimes a cover-up is a good thing.

And now, how this:

Became something else all together.  First of all, I used my 6x6 Gelli Plate as a stamp to create the patterns.




And these are the high tech tools I used for the patterns:


Then I used a bunch of stencils on a sheet of deli wrap, and set it aside for a moment.


Back to my journal. I scraped some random blobs of heavy duty gesso over the pages with a palette knife. Cover-up number 1.


I liked the texture, but not the stark whiteness, so I covered the whole thing with a mixture of paint and matte medium (which forms a glaze).



Remember that sheet of deli wrap? I tore it into strips and started covering the page, again.


Not loving it, but I thought some more glaze would make it less busy. And some numbers with embossing paste. And some paint scraped on with an old credit card. And.....several other things I didn't stop to photograph.


At this point I was describing it as a "hot mess," and seriously doubted I could either a) make it worse or 
b) make it better. As they say, it is what it is. So, I walked away for a day, and when I returned I decided it needed to be a cityscape.


There were many steps along the way where I could have stopped. Maybe the end result would have been better, maybe not. But it wouldn't have been this, and I wouldn't have learned anything if I stopped at a safer point. I don't suggest that every project should be approached with the "cover up the nice" attitude, but I think you can learn a lot and free yourself if you try it from time to time. And BTW, the triangular rooftops were cut from the scrap paper I was using as a palette. 








10 comments:

Unknown said...

This is awesome! I love seeing your process -- and the way you started without concerning yourself with anything, yet ended up with a fantastic city scape. Bravo!

Mike said...

Love it! Thank you for sharing.

Elena said...

I love this Eileen!!!! I love the freedom of just doubg anything that comes to mind!!!!

Sue Young said...

Love your cityscape Eileen, AND the process!!!

Altered Art Studio 9010 said...

Love it and the whole process. Can't wait to give it a try.

Patzee said...

It's so much fun to watch the process. And seeing how nimbly you change direction and create a great piece that has hints of it's beginning. This is a wonderful spread.

suzieq23 said...

Well I think when creating your art piece for week 7, it looked like you had tons of fun! I love the end result and "covering up the good stuff" is in the eye of the beholder. I also thought it could be covering up some real "good" water color paper or even a collage of "good" stuff like chocolate cake or filet mignon and painting over it. LOL

Aimeslee Winans said...

Love how it ended up, xoxo.

Lori said...

What an awesome process, I have several pages that could use a cover up..but I have a hard time doing it, you think I would be over that by now, but I'm not.

De said...

Just revisited this Eileen....I have a page (not completely finished) that I hate most of (couple of spots are OK) So am going to try thos idea over it
Cheers
De