Painting and Folding

Today came another layer of paint on the 3D tree. I am very pleased with how it is coming out!

Robyn and I went out tonight in search of tissue paper in vibrant colors. First we went to our neighborhood Dollar Tree where we purchased four multicolor packs that gave me 25 sheets(per package, 100 sheets total) including red, blue, lime green and yellow (and pale pink, which I’ll save for present wrapping!). This was a great start for $4.28! BUT, I still needed purple and orange!

We decided to run over to Michael’s Arts and Crafts, to see if they had any. The best part is that I still have a gift card for them with just over $40 on it! And, I had a coupon on my phone. (I think this is the best idea- I always forget my coupons, or they expire- and now I can just check my Michael’s App or my Joanne’s App to see what coupons I can use!).

Materials for Flowers

We found multipacks (you can see it in the top of the bottom image) that had more colors than I needed, but was the only way I was finding purple and orange. The pack had 100 sheets with 10 colors of each. I ended up being very excited to have the pack though it wasn’t cheap ($7.99 – 40% off coupon). The flowers were planned to be two-tone, so those other colors came in handy!

The pipe cleaners were also from Michael’s. I bought 3 packs($2.99) hoping I would only need two! And, I also grabbed a pack of orange party napkins, in case I didn’t think the orange was bright enough.

Michelle Dupuis’s tutorial on making tissue papers was fantastic! She posted just over a year ago about making these. I love that she came up with five different flower types. Since I chose to do all of mine as Dahlias, I had fun mixing up the colors a bit. Michelle used 10″ squares. I decided I wanted mine smaller, to be proportional with the tree. Now, don’t ask how I figured that out, because  I don’t know. In any event, I decided 6″ squares would be good. Thankfully the squares do not have to be perfect! Here they are all cut out, with some of the pipe cleaners I planned to use:

Tissue Squares

Here is how they came out! The bottom is folded like a fan, with the ‘center’ color on top, held tight by a purple pipe cleaner. The top is the sheets each pulled out to give the puffiness! Here is another view:

Two-Tone Purple

Initially I knew I needed 35 flowers. They would be the ones I needed having art mediums “blooming” from them. While I was making them I decided that no, every reed stem off the tree needed a flower! So, all in all, I think I created 90-95. Here is the pile:

80+ Tissue Paper Flowers!

For right now, they are staying folded up. Once the stool is done being painted and I have my art medium items created, I’ll start “poofing them out.” Here is another view:

Purple Dahlia Flower

Tissue Paper Flowers and Pipe Cleaners

As with any project I am working on over a period of time, I start dreaming about what the end result might be. Sometimes I dream many different concepts, and other times I get stuck on just one. This project has been no different. Over the past month the tree has evolved as many times in my dreams as it has in reality. And, so often I believe that even when I’m not actually focused on a problem, project, idea or etc, my brain somewhere is still working on it. I’m sure a lot of artists could relate, and perhaps you can too, even if you don’t think of yourself as an artist.

“At the birth of the word “art,” it was a verb that meant “to put things together.” It was not a product but a process(3) that Eric Booth writes about in his book, The Everyday Work of Art: How Artistic Experience Can Transform Your Life.

It is interesting how we change word meanings for a length of time. I firmly believe anyone can work through the art process to create something wonderful. I taught an art class this past fall. My 25 students ran in age from three-6 year old girls, to teens, and adults: male and female, moms and dads, grandparents. Some thought of themselves as artists, some worked in the arts field, while others swore they couldn’t do art for anything. With just a few basic instructions, showing the process, they were able to learn how to create in the simplest of ways. By the end of the session, each and every person had created a piece of work all their own.

This tree has been begging for something. What that something was, I just did not know. Until one night- it was one of those nights where the insomnia was so bad, I thought I’d see the sun rise. At the point of lingering between sleep and not, flowers came to the forefront of my mind with this tree. It needed flowers! The flowers would show the blooming of all the art mediums that this genetic family of mine played in.

After the initial idea, I jumped into pinterest to see what types of paper flowers I could come up with. As I was looking through, I wasn’t thrilled with what I was finding. I didn’t want them to have a “scrapbook” appearance. In fact, I am not much of a scrapbooker anyway. My other thought was that those flowers could become very heavy, very fast. And, my tree’s branches of reeds might not sustain them. That’s when I came across these beautiful tissue paper flowers! I recall making them as a kid in Sunday school class, and in regular school as well. I finally found a few bloggers who had touched on the subject. I found one in particular that I decided to use. Michelle Dupuis the creator of Rust & Sunshine ( http://rustsunshine.blogspot.com ) posted a tutorial on making five real to life paper tissue flowers. Her directions were superb, and very easy to follow. I choose to follow the instructions for Dahlias. I chose them for two reasons, the first is that Gerberas and Dahlias are the two brightest flowers I can think of… next being Glads! And secondly I could make them two tone bursts of vibrant color.

3D Tree In Color!

This tree has literally taken over my studio. Thankfully we have a table for just the laptops and homework, and whatnot!  I have brown craft paper taped to the floor, paints in the cups so I can recycle them when done, and paint brushes galore. I forgot to take a picture the first night I was painting. I had painted purple and blue. As the days have come along, some of the colors have shifted in an effort to keep the natural flow of a growing tree, but also to create more of a balance with the colors. When I first started the color process I honestly had no idea how the tree would be exactly… I had a pretty good idea, but I knew it would figure itself out as I went through the process.

In Process-3D Color

I decided to start the tree while it was on its base so I could work out the color flow. Red insistently was the overwhelming color.

3D- Different Angle

 

Base Paint

Once I did a couple coats of the tertiary colors, I tackled the ‘dirt’ section which, you may recall is an upside-down papasan chair foot stool. We had bought the papasan in Washington State at a Goodwill Store. My son Rook and I are the only two who use the chair, and neither of us use the stool, we put our feet on a giant blue yoga ball… or we don’t use anything at all for our feet. In the image above I mixed five or six of my 2oz paints again to get the brown. With the light would underneath, it is having a variant all its own. Some parts were shiny and needed to be gone over a couple times. I’ll be doing one more coat to make sure I have it all before I weave in some papers and colored pipe cleaners.

I am working on what types of tissue paper flowers I want to have blooming from the tree. I found this cute Dahlia tissue paper flower while on pinterest, that I think I will use. I’ll link to it if I do decide to use it!

 

“…until you find better and brighter ones.”

While reading Kay Redfield Jamison’s book “An Unquiet Mind” she describes the point of being in a high manic phase in these words:

“When you’re high it’s tremendous. The ideas and feelings are fast and frequent like shooting stars, and you follow them until you find better and brighter ones.”

Manic Highs Overwhelm

I created a painting in our art therapy group today, on flashing colors, ideas, linear, splotches… those highs can be amazing! And then in an instant, I can be overwhelmed by them…

The Interviews and The 3D White Tree

I have received back a couple of the family interviews. My grandmother, mother and father have sent me theirs. Mom printed hers out, and hand wrote her responses to each of the questions. Grandma and Dad’s are typed. I had thought the week before I’d received someone else’s, however it was a letter letting me know they would get to it, and send it along. There is one member I would love to hear from, so I can’t wait to see if it happens!

As I’m waiting for these to come in, I’m continuing to work on painting the 3D tree. It is finally looking like a tree!

Tree base with basic white paint.

Tree trunk/limbs painted white.

All Three Parts with paints lined up.

Taste the Rainbow: Figuratively and Reality.

When deciding how to paint this 3D tree, I decided immediately that it would be abstract and that the colors needed to be bright and cheery and as abstract as the tree would look when done. I chose to use the tertiary colors, which are the six rainbow colors: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet. I also knew that I didn’t have a lot of extra money floating around for buying new paints, which is why, if you have been following along, I decided to use up some of the 2oz bottles of acrylic paints. This worked out amazingly well. I cleaned out paints AND put them to good use! I really enjoyed mixing them, and seeing how they intermingled together in the cup. Here are some photos:

Divided By Color

Mmmm Yummy Paint Cups

Okay, seriously, I didn’t taste the paints! But for whatever reason, they are so pretty, and look like they could be the rainbow cake batter I made for this awesome rainbow cake last summer. In fact, here I’ll show you the batter:

6 Bowls Of Cake Mix

See what I mean? Brilliant colors! I love these!! And, here is that brilliant cake baked:

Close Up Of Rainbow

The rainbow cake was a huge success! I think my tree will be too! I’ll share more as I paint!

 

The Mediums We Work In: Part Two

With the production of my 3D tree nearing the end, and painting have started, and on its way to nearly done, I felt I should be giving some serious considerations to what my hanging items would be. They are listed like this: {Medium (item to hang) #needed}

Acrylic Paint (Paint Palette) 3

Altered Arts/Altered Books (A Mini-Handmade Altered Book) 2

Collage (Mini Sheet Collaged Front and Back) 3

Drawing/Pen &Ink (Drawing Pad/Pen) 5

Fibers (Small Bolt of Fancy Yarns or Fabric on a Hoop? ) 6

Jewelry (Tiny Beaded Bracelets) 4

Oil Painting (Paint Palette) 3

Photography (Polaroid Film Sheet) 3

Rubber Stamps (Rubber Stamps) 6

Sewers (Fabrics/Needle) 5

Woodworking (Chisel) 3

These mumbers are based on how many partake in that particular art medium. Some members of the family are fairly prolific and use a wide variety of arts. An example of this is my Aunt Barbie who as an Art Therapist must have a variety of talents to work with her clients. Some of them draw, some collage, some color… it all depends on their capabilities and what they may be interested in. There are vast overlaps, as these are based on 13 family members.

The Mediums We Work In: Part One

As part of the 3D tree, I am looking at the different mediums my family members (and I) work in. Some of us have varied interests (i.e. My grandmother Peggy, mother, aunt Barbara, and aunt Robin all sew). I am going to hang from this tree an item that represents for each type of medium. Here is the list I have come up with:

Paint Palette = acrylic/oil painter

Polaroid Film Sheet = photographer

Rubber Stamp = For those who created a rubber stamp.

A Beaded Bracelet = For those who make jewelry

Drawing Pad/Pen = For those who draw

A Mini-Handmade book = For those who do altered books/projects

Fabric on a Hoop = For those who quilt, and/or do embroidery

Something wooden = For those into woodworking

Fabrics/Needle = For those who sew

My intent is to have each person represented by the different work they do. So, say I’m putting my mediums on the tree, I would be represented in several ways, with several items. I am an artist, photographer, sewer, altered artist as well as a jewelry maker. I would get all of those hung from the tree. My purpose in doing this is to show that we are all multi-talented artists. I plan to make all of the items be painted in gold. The tree itself is in the tertiary  colors.

The Lost Children

I had a huge breakthrough that I’ve been trying to figure out how to approach. I have been feeling like my trees, my circle of life if you like… is missing something. Or rather, someone. Or perhaps… more than one…

I have a daughter- not Gabrianna my oldest. This little girl was my middle child. I gave birth to her at 22 weeks 4 days. Myria Lynn was what they refer to as a micro-preemie. She weighed in at 2 pounds, 4 ounces; her length was 12 inches. She was smaller than a coke can. Myria is full blooded sibling to my youngest, Rook. He was also early- but not so much born at 32 weeks. Myria was in the NICU at Strong Memorial Hospital for three months. Myria and Rook are 10 months apart.

I don’t really want to get into the whole story here, because it’s a long and involved one, but I’ll give you a tidbit about how life was going and where she is.

Gabrianna was 5 years old when Myria was born, and 6 when Rook was born. If you ask her now, she really doesn’t remember much, but does remember playing with them and how Rook did things faster than his sister. I was going to school at Bryant and Stratton earning my AOS is Graphic Design, working part time at a daycare near where we lived, and where the children attended. The daycare was great, they had space for all three children, and they were able to meet the needs of each.

All the children were vegetarian. Rook was allergic to anything remotely dairy (as in he had separate dishes to cook and eat out of). Gabrianna was my picky eater, and Myria would eat anything that came her way. Made no difference, if I was eating it- she’d pop her little mouth open as in a ‘feed me!’ war cry. I think she was the most rewarding to feed, because never once did she turn food away. I’d feed her siblings, and then she and I would share whatever was made.

Before I get too far off… When Gabrianna turned 5 she went to kindergarden. She loved it, and excelled. Our best memory is me being called into the elementary school office because her teacher thought it inappropriate for her to have her hair dyed hot pink. Let me say- I did not bleach it first- it was over her dark brown natural curly hair. I literally laughed out loud! I couldn’t believe this was the reason I was being called in. I told both the teacher and the principal, two things. The first- if I’m going to argue about every little thing, how will we ever handle the big stuff? And, secondly, hair grows out. Really?? I still chuckle. Gabrianna is 18 now and almost never has dyed her hair since. She knows she can whenever she wants, I’ll even help. Still it’s not a big deal. Death, accidents, secrets, boys, money, health and happiness are important, not the color of your hair.

By the time Rook was a year old (DOB 1999) Myria was almost two (DOB 1998); we had more people in and out of the house than the post office. On a weekly basis Myria had physical therapy 4x, speech 3x, occupational 3x and though she was down from the huge amount of meds, she still received them around the clock. Rook had occupational and physical therapy as well, and he began to take speech when Myria’s speech pathologist realized that Rook didn’t talk at all. And because Myria had trouble gaining weight, we had a nurse coming in once a week for weight check, and to make sure her sleep apnea machine was in good order.

Poor Gabrianna and I were left out of the chaos. I think that is why we both thrive on being busy. There came a point when Myria and Rook’s dad decided he “wasn’t ready to be a father” and left us with no apartment lease and no place to go.

Long story not so short…. I was single. I had 3 kids under the age of 5. I wasn’t handling the situation very well. And, I have to note- I was not diagnosed with anything yet. I was not on any medication. I should have been. But that’s hind sight.

I decided after much deliberation, list making, a heart breaking decision that we were not going to make it. Myria was the one who needed the most. She had been diagnosed with brain bleeds due to the early birth, cerebral palsy and a non-related seizure disorder. Although all the kids deserved more, I knew she needed a family who could really take care of her, and could meet her needs.

I worked through an adoption agency in Rochester. There was only one family who fit every single criteria I asked for. So, by the time her second birthday was here, she was moved in with her adopted parents. Myria is now 14. We have an open adoption. My mom sees her on a fairly regular basis. I used to go see her. Robyn hasn’t met her yet. She wants to, but understands that for right now, I can’t go. It’s something I am sure I will get to in therapy after time.

Myria Lynn is just one of the missing, lost children in our family. Prior to my pregnancy with her, I lost a baby boy at 20 weeks gestation. My mom helped me name him: Jonah. The hospital let me hold him, and took pics of him, and did a footprint, and they gave me this little necklace charm with a gold ring on it. I have them all in a box I have with stuff that has meaning. I have not looked at the photos in years. I sometimes wonder if he would have looked like his brother Rook, or sister Myria. In going down memory lane to the child I lost, it reminds me of another boy I have not had the chance to know…

My mom and dad also gave up a baby. It’d mean I was the middle child, and not the oldest. He’s eight years older than I. I think of him now and then. Wondering if he’d look like us. Likely he does. But, I also wonder if he ever thought of finding us. The adoption is closed, and something this family of mine doesn’t talk about. I’m hoping, praying, I don’t get too much backlash posting it, but having him out there has been both an external and an internal influence since I learned of him all those years ago.

Something Not Quite Right

At some point during my process, I realized that were things immanently wrong with the family tree I was creating. After several nights battling insomnia and the nightmares being brought (even more so, as I was having them prior) on with one of my new meds, it came to me that I was missing a couple key people in my life. Once I came to this realization I brought it up with Anne, and then again in our Thesis Group with Monica. This was definitely a major break through for me.

I had decided I would talk it over with my mom, to get her input on the whole thing, I kept waiting for that “perfect moment” and it just hadn’t been there. Instead, I’m just going to post the part for me that is the most necessary. I feel to be true to this process, and to myself, they need to be here.

These “Lost Children” to me are just to big of a part too who I am.

There are family members of which we don’t talk to others. I’m sure you might have a family like this- sisters don’t speak to sisters, brothers don’t talk to others. Apparently, as I am finding out this isn’t all that uncommon. I’ve reached out to one of those… an aunt. I do hope I will hear from her. She has an interesting blog of her own going. I’m waiting to hear from her, but I’d love to connect my readers here to her, and her wonderful art work. I’m hoping to get responses from some of the others. Not all family members are participating, as I’ve made it for the artists. I’m not sure if that is fair, because I am the one deciding if they are or are not. But, it is my thesis… I must keep some control…