Saturday, December 21, 2019

Dead Fly 92 - A Grand Experiment


Dead Fly 92 - A Grand Experiment
Acrylic and silicone on canvas 18" x 24"

I've been reading about pour paintings using silicone but have no idea how to do one. But I did have some extra packets of silicone laying around so one day slathered the canvas with it and then just started painting away. Sometimes the paint would sit on top of the silicone. Then it would sink to the bottom. It certainly didn't slow down the dry time, which I thought would happen. What was neat about it is that new colors layered over the old like glazes, but then dried so quickly that they could be blended. It's best to see this one up close and real to appreciate how the paint worked. 

Dead Fly 91 - Dead Fly on a Manila Folder


Dead Fly 91 - Dead Fly on a Manila Folder
Pencil on a manila folder

Harking back to the original dead fly which was on a manila folder, I created this piece of art using a manila folder and colored pencils. It took a long time and I have a stack of trial and error dead flies on manila folders that were all part of the process.

Dead Fly 90 - DIY Dead Fly Shadow


Dead Fly 90 - DIY Dead Fly Shadow
Mixed media on canvas 14" x 14"

Here is an experiment. Sometimes I see things in my mind and then just want to try them to see if they work out in reality. For this I made a base out of aluminum foil then stitched that to the canvas. Then I covered it with plaster tape even wrapping the wire legs. Then I filled in the gabs with caulking and after several days of drying time painted it. The canvas is painted "manila folder yellow" to recreate the first dead fly on the first manila folder. When it's hung, depending on the light source, the fly casts it's own shadow which changes because light changes.

Dead Fly 89 - The Executive


Dead Fly 89 - The Executive
Mixed media - 12" tall

This one was made using aluminum foil as the base, covered with Sculpey. The wings are made of copper wire twisted till it took shape. I tried again soldering them together buy need to learn a whole lot more about soldering before I'll ever be successful at it. The legs are pipe-cleaners, singed to make them look like fly legs, then covered with some Sculpey here and there. A quick trip to the thrift shop and I found a small lamp which I took apart for the base. This particular piece is sized right and would look great on an executive's desk. Hence the name - The Executive

Dead Fly 88 - Object D'Art


Dead Fly 88 - Object D'Art
mixed media 31" tall

Here is the first sculpture I've done for this series if you don't count the little flies in Dead Fly 45. I used a paper bag stuffed with newspaper, then covered with plaster tape for the body. Used wires coated with plaster tape for the legs. The wings were trick. I thought it would be easy to solder the wing wire together and after many failed attempts, just twisted the wires in place. Yes, that's an old lamp base for the base. I thing the design on it looks like fly wings. The whole thing was then painted with Rustoleum to make it look like iron. Originally I had in mind to do a model suitable for an executives desk but got carried away with this one and it ended up bigger than I thought it would which leads to...