I was given the task of creating a piece of art for my department, replacing a piece of "corporate" art that had grown so dull and faded, all the colors were a muted blue-green.
The assignment was given to me in July, with a deadline in October.
One of the roadblocks I faced was the recycling aspect. I was given the framed piece and told to replace it. Again, a dull blue green with a gray border. Talk about artist's block!
And given the corporate color of hunter green, I felt the obligation to work within the blue-green-gray palette. I created a steely cage around my creativity on top of that.
So my brain rebelled, and I had the mad desire to go in the opposite direction. I wanted a warm palette that incorporated the exact opposite. Give me, red, orange and gold please. But what to do with those colors?
I was driving home from the rink, at the 4-way stop at 8th and Leonard. The service ditch was alive with a riot of wildflowers and reeds, practically on fire in the light of the setting sun. I was struck by the philosophy of all gardeners who consider weeds to be plants in search of a purpose. Abstract thoughts flew, God as a gardener, those struggling with mental illness in search of health and purpose, etc.
I found my inspiration.
I fiddled in photoshop and illlustrator to sketch out my idea, but again, my fingers itched to create and touch. I wanted to do this by hand, I did not want to churn this out in a computer program.
I headed over to T-Square and spent entirely too much time enjoying the process of selecting the papers. Comparing and contrasting, switching things in and out, I found my colors.
Next, I drew my landscape on the backside of my paper. I drew daisies, bee balm, cattails, dandelions, grasses, and thistles. With a steady hand, I got out my xacto knife, and carefully cut away the excess, leaving behind a beautiful late summer silhouette.
The craft part kicked in, and I used spray glue to adhere the silhouette to its backing. I was left with spot glue issues, an issue with the technique employed. Hm. The simplest solution was using the excess paper and a craft punch, stamping out enough dandelion fluffs to hide the problem. The happy accident led to a whimsical illustrative effect that was missing from the piece as it was.
I created the statement plate in a classic font in a golden brown and had it printed on cream paper, staying in the warm color palette. To frame, I again chose cream border and a brushed gold frame. This was a challenge, as the assistant at Michaels was entirely too enthusiastic, and got carried away, picking heavy gold scrolls, double frames, border on border. I had to pull her back, stating the framing was becoming more important than the artwork. The other challenge was the size of the piece and the cost of framing. While I wasn't given a budget, I knew the original quote of $60 was going to be too much. I pressed for and finally got her to find an economy border and frame that would be more suitable for the custom work.
The piece was completed and deliver in October, 2014.
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