Dr. Who's Tardis Continued

I thought The Tardis was the perfect choice for this year’s theme.  Having two Dr. Who fans in my home, I’ve discovered how serious Dr. Who fans are!  ‘The Tardis’ is the booth Dr. Who steps into so he can travel through time.  I began the piece with two base coats of what I’m now calling ‘Tardis Blue.’  After that, the lion’s share of time was spent working out the mathematical dimensions.  Once that was worked out, I began laying things out, using a charcoal plumb line, then taping them.  Yes, indeed, straight lines are the most difficult thing for me to paint! Shadows and highlights, weathering, then the windows and beacon were next.  The final touch was the iridescents streaming from the beacon and windows.  This piece was painted with a combination of acrylic, matt medium, latex and iridescent acrylics, and finished with a coat of varnish.

 

Student's Metal Work

Here's a metal piece one of my students did.  I think it's darling.  I've posted two photos because neither is really true to what it looks like.  Actually, hers is somewhere in between; imagine the best of both photos put together!

 The warm copper is glowing through her under layer of blue and the top layer of  red-violet, making is a really adorable piece.

This is some great graffiti my daughter and I found downtown.  I wish I could claim it!  We found it on a rather windy day, as you can see.

Dr. Who's The Tardis - Donation for Habitat for Humanity

 Well, here's the second stage of my The Tardis door.  First stage was two coats of what I'm calling Tardis blue.

After that, I had to lay out all the lines.  Actually, I had to figure out the dimensions.  The door was 80 x 29 1/2.  Four vertical panels at 13", three spaces between them at 3", a 4" bottom, and the top section...

Let's put it this way:  Artists - pay attention in math class!  It took a lot of figuring before I did ANYTHING to the door!

Once I had my plans clearly laid out, checked three times and laid out plainly, I got out my string and charcoal to lay the lines.  After measuring the dimensions on each edge, I 'charcoaled' the string and had a friend help me.  I used it like a chalk line, which I don't own, so made my own!

Once the laborious task of figuring out all the measurements was finished, my next step was to tape everything off.  Yes, the hardest thing to paint is a straight line!  I could have had a masterpiece painted freehand by the time I got all these lines laid out!

This picture shows me pulling the tape off after painting some of the lines and shadows.


Here's what the door looks like so far, before the tape got pulled off.

And here I am, tape in hand, with my lovely door.  Okay, second stage done.  I had to run to the copy shop to use their ink jet printer to copy off the notice that the police put up.  This type of ink doesn't run when wet.  An acrylic gel medium attached it nicely.

Third step will be to (figure out the dimensions) lay out the top design, and then I'll get to do the fun part, adding the minor nuances to make it look like the actual Tardis.  I'll keep ya posted. :)

Forgot to tell you - I volunteered to paint this for Habitat for Humanity.  They have a gala and auction off doors painted by artists to raise funds for their cause.  I'm figuring that most of the people in the audience won't know what The Tardis is, or what in the world Dr. Who is, but the rabid few that DO know will really want this. :)  We'll see...

Studio (dis-) Organization

This is a corner of my studio.  And yes, I know exactly where everything is!

A couple posts ago I showed you a partially finished collage on wood.  Here's the finished piece.

It took considerably longer than I expected it would take, but it was pleasant, relaxing work.  I listened to a book on tape and went to it.

Marilyn Monroe - SOLD

Here's the painting I just sold.  Because Marilyn Monroe is such a colorful, larger-than-life person, I chose to depict her with some wild color to describe her personality.  Here's to you, Marilyn!

My camera colors show the mat as being a HORRIBLE color, but it actually matches the dark indigo of the lady herself and looks really nice in person.  Apparently the matting absorbed rather than reflected the light, so, well, there it is!