slightly wonky

This week, I had some paralysis in deciding what to focus on.  Therefore, I was a bit unfocused.  I managed to mount one of my prints onto canvas.  This is something that my printmaking teacher showed us.  This was my first attempt to do it myself:

Can you see the shadow on the bottom and right edge?  This is the print mounted onto canvas.  See, here is the edge:

Much clearer, right?  You will also note the difference in the colors of the print between the top and bottom picture.  The bottom picture is closer to the true colors.  I have to work on my camera skills, so that it doesn’t do odd things to the color of my prints, as in the uppermost picture.

Back onto mounting prints onto canvas: this is kind of an interesting way to turn a print into a painting of sorts.  I’ve been told that it really only works with prints that are completely covered with ink…no areas of bare paper.  The bare paper gets dirty too easily without a frame/glass.  Interesting, right?  It is a very laborious process, so I don’t think that I’m going to do too many of these.  I wanted a 10″ x 12″ canvas, which of course, is an atypical size.  So, I had to make and prime my own.  Very tedious.  But…I think that I like the result.  I’m going to do one more of a related print, so that I’ll have a diptych.

As I mentioned, I was in indecisive/pensive/sketchy mode this week.  Here are some of my sketchy ramblings:

and this one:

and this:

Don’t ask me what I was thinking about.  These are just doodles.  Why am I showing doodles?  Because I was waffling on what to do, so I just grabbed a pen and scribbled.  Coincidentally, my collage class also began with scribbles.  Everyone had to bring in small boxes that they had “collaged” into.  Then, we composed everyone’s boxes into different arrangements.  THEN, we were asked to sketch different views and parts of the arrangement, as a basis for a 2D collage.  So, here is my initial scribble sketch:

Yes, the objects are fairly unrecognizable…you may see a ribbon bow, an empty plastic tofu tub, crayons stuffed into a cigarette box…etc.  So, based on this sketch, I was supposed to create a collage.  This is what I did in class:

I was only really looking at the right hand area of the sketch.  I think that this is interesting.  I’m not sure if I’ll keep going with it, or just let it be.  It’s always hard to find a stopping point, right?  It seems a bit “even” to me…and I’m not so sure about the big slant on the right hand edge.  Comments?

So, to address the “scratchy” in the post title:  I managed to get poison ivy on my arm/hands.  This is a very mild case of it, as I’ve had horrible poison ivy in the past.  It is NOT fun, though.  I noticed my son playing with a bush that he was standing near…and I realized that it was poison ivy.  Needless to say, I panicked…took him home, scrubbed him down, and now I’ve got it on me.  Luckily. he doesn’t have any!  So, I either did a fabulous job scrubbing him, or he’s not allergic, or it’s his first exposure…so he won’t be so lucky next time.  Why is there such a thing as poison ivy?  Why? Whyyyy?