More buildings & more progress

As the title of this posting says I've got lots of new progress to show you! I finally worked out how to complete the streets. I tried plaster, & then clay, thinking I'd do a cobble stone look, but niether medium gave me the look I wanted. Still not sure what I wanted to use, I laid down a layer of pattern material, got it wet with water, & started dropping spotting liquid (the dye photographers use to cover dust spots on black and white prints) onto the wet paper. I thought the ink would hit the paper in a drop/circular pattern & then bleed into the paper, as does with every other application of ink onto wet paper I've ever done, but the ink started following the creases in the paper & created an extremly interesting look! To me-the pattern almost looks like a root system on a tree, or the veins on a rocky surface. Very cool :) I used the same bluish black spotting liquid to create a haze in the sky-

I also finalized the look of the figures & created multiple copies using the pattern material, paper backing, & sewed the edges together with my sewing machine. I got the generic,non-unique look that I wanted. Which I think once the canvas is complete, will allow the viewer more interpretation.

There's always a balancing game I play-as I'm sure most artists do-you want to make your point clearly. You want to express everything you need to in the piece you're working on & in some instances you want to be extremely obvious & make it very hard for a viewer to miss what you're trying to say. Although, in other pieces, you might be a little more subtle, & while you've expressed everything you want to express, you're work might leave room for interpretation. For after all, every person who see's any piece of work you've done, is coming from a different background, with different experiences, & no matter what you do as an artist, each person will see the work differently. Don't you just love that? :)

Last but not least, I worked on some of the perspective buildings leading down the path-into the background. They have the same aethestic of the larger foreground buildings, but they are also without multi-layers of cardboard & wire windows. Their job is to lead the eye down the path w/o too much distraction. I think they look great!

Now all I need to do is make a few more buildings to finish the left & right side of the road, sew the buildings onto the canvas with twine, & then complete as the building at the end of the path. The building will have a sign on it that says "the factory" & include images I found in a 1950's encyclopedia. Can't wait to finish it! :)

New Canvas

New pics of new progress :) This is the canvas I'm creating for the bkgrd of the figures I created w/ patterns & my sewing machine. (Refer to the post on Feb 23rd) Here's the first sketch-a city scene, a street down the middle, w/ buildings crowding the walk.

I decided to go with cardboard, mixed media, & wire for the buildings to give them dimension, a ratty look, & a less precise look than the figures (that will eventually line the street), & the building at the end of the street.

To begin with, I sketched out a rough outline on the cardboard, glued another layer of cardboard behind the first, & then cut the shape out w/ my jig saw. I then used ink, water color, chalk, & water soluable oil pastels to give the buildings their look. Here's the rubber stamp I made to create a brick-like pattern for the facades of the buildings. Although, after the water soaked into the cardboard, the internal structure of the carboard actually gave a brick-like appearance to the surface-nice surprise!! :) I also used some old wire to accentuate the windows.

So still a lot of work to do, but I LOVE the way these first tests are coming out!! (Here's a pic of the finished buildings together)