Friday, January 25, 2008

Leaping out of the box

I see so much inspiring work online, and I wonder where these artists get the sense of freedom that comes through so strongly in what they do. I have a problem stepping outside the box. I find myself worried about messing up or making a mistake. Which is silly really because noone is judging me but me. I am better than I used to be but not as good as I want to be.

So my resolution for this year is to LEAP out of the box artistically. Or try anyway!

These are some shrines I made using foam board to make the buildings. Tricky stuff, foam board. You REALLY need to keep a sharp blade in your knife. And you REALLY need to be exact in your measurements. Not my best thing. I had seen walls covered with rice paper and I tried that. But I found it too flimsy. I like to use pages from old dictionarys and books instead. And you REALLY need to be patient thru the whole drying/setting up process. Also not my best thing. And I found that you shouldn't try to set too many walls at a time. Patience patience patience.

For the Fairy shrine I used real butterfly wings that I gel mediumed onto cardstock. The nests and eggs in both shrines are things I found on our property. My husband Jimi knows to always be looking down when he is out and about and has found a lot of cool stuff for me.

The stuff on top of the Angel Demon shrine is devils Claw my friend Rose from AZ. sent me.

So those are some of my shrines, hope you like them.
Peace

5 comments:

morningDove said...

I find your shrines very interesting. I never tried making one. thanks for sharing pitfalls and helpful hints.

if you want to drop a pic in with text, highlight and keep your finger on it then scroll down to where you want to drop in text. At least that works for me. Sometimes blogger does not cooperate in the layout of my pics and words.

Eileen said...

Your shrines are great. What great hints you gave us. Thank you.

AlexaCzar said...

beautiful artwork !!!

very intresting.

Ro Bruhn said...

These look great, thanks for sharing

Denise Moore said...

Mary, your blog is great. You have so many great things to share. I love your shrines. I have always wanted to try to build them myself out of foam board. You have inspired me. Denise