January 26, 2009

Old Gold, the Old West, and Feeling Old

Old Gold: one of my latest art endeavors. A sneak peek of a project I just finished... and at the last minute, I might add! These pages are 4 x 4 inches, for a 20-person chunky book swap. The theme is "Touch of Gold" and as usual, my page design got much more involved as it evolved... it turned into collaging, 3D texturing, painting, shading with chalk, stamping, cutting out the tiny stamped images, then putting them all together over the course of 6 hours on Friday night. (so they could be mailed on Saturday, of course, since they are due to the swap hostess by the 30th!!) All those steps were worth it, though- the finished pages turned out beautiful (I think!). I'll show the complete design once the pages are swapped and sent out, but for now you'll have to be content with sneak peeks:

Below is a peek at the upper right corner: this tiny bit includes collaging, painting, stamping, texture paste, stamping, and heat embossing onto vellum... I didn't realize how many techniques I actually used on this one page design!!

Below is the upper right of the back (the back of the pages is decorated, too!) Collaging, painting, stamping with acrylic paint, text printed on the computer, torn paper, and distressing with ink. Now, on to the Old West ... after traveling to Tombstone over Christmas, I got a bit interested in seeing more of the "real" historic pioneering West. We recently started watching the TV show Deadwood on DVD (it was originally shown on HBO), and I really like it a lot. From Amazon: "set in an ungoverned stretch of South Dakota soon after the 1876 Custer massacre, Deadwood concerns a lawless, evolving town attracting fortune-seekers, drifters, tyrants, and burned-out adventurers searching for a card game and a place to die." As the DVD cover says, Deadwood is "a hell of a place to make your fortune." I have never heard the word "cocksucker" so many times an hour in my life (they also use f---" quite a lot), but once you get past the language, it's really quite a good show. I'm sure it's not totally historically accurate, but it gives a good impression of how difficult life in the late 1800s would have been. So far we're up to Episode 7 of Season 1-- there are three seasons total, so there's lots more gold mining, brawling, and scheming to go!
On feeling old: this past weekend, we helped our friend Dennis move... he just purchased his first house, and we helped him move furniture and appliances from his rental house to the new house. We owed him; he's helped us move twice so far since we moved out here, but Boy! was I sore the next day! I was feeling my age (more like twice my age!!) for sure... I think I can still manage to do art, though... haha!! The next swap I have lined up is going to be a really neat one, too- the theme is The Wizard of Oz... stay tuned for sneak peeks of that!!

3 comments:

Jackie said...

ooh, I can't wait to see the pix of the page you made...the sneak peak looks great!

Deadwood is one of my favorite shows!!!! I don't have HBO so I saw it on DVD like you're doing. I got so into it that I'd end up having weekend long Deadwood marathons! The language is definitely "colorful," as are the characters. I had many favorites but I think I liked Doc Cochran most of all, Swearengen is a close second, and also Dan and Jane and Saul Starr and Trixie and Seth and Ellsworth and Wild Bill and, and, and..... You can probably tell I really loved that show. LOL

crimsoncat05 said...

oooh, I can't believe you like Al Swearengen- I think he's sooo slimy and manipulative! So far my favorites are Seth Bullock, the doctor, Jane (she has some turns of phrase that are quite hilarious!), and Alma... and Wild Bill (that whole thing was quite tragic). We might need to do some mini-marathons, too, because I'm not sure I can wait to know what happens next, only renting one DVD at a time!! At the same time, I'll be disappointed when we're through with all of them, so maybe we should drag it out...

Jackie said...

As you continue to watch, you'll find out that as "bad" as Al is on the surface, at his core, he is fair. You'll see him wrestle with some "demons" and wrestle with some of his decisions. He tries to do what's best for the "camp" as well as himself, of course!