A New Era For Divided By

The image below is how Divided By looked back in 2012 for Merican-Tastic!.

I have decided to re-purpose the mask/face/head elements for different pieces, but try to retain the overall concept of Divided By by replacing them with a couple of carved panels.  Basically, I'm keeping the board riddled with nails, and rebuilding from there.

After doing a few sketches to solidify my ideas and composition, I transfer the drawings to the panels and then ink them in.

Marker.  Marker.  Marker.

Once the basic shapes are in place, it's time to bust out my Dremel Tool and start carving.  The wood panels I'm using were salvaged from the same demolition project that yielded the wood studs I use for my carved frames.  However, these panels are a different type of wood and they tend to gum up my cutting blades much quicker.  It's a downward spiral from there.  Long story short, I have to use way more cutting blades to make a panel than I do a section of carved frame.

Inspecting the my work before I lay down the rest of the line work.

Line work done.  Back to carving.

Once the carving is complete, I spray the wood with a flat black paint in order to fill in all of the nooks and crannies (cut lines and imperfections in the wood).

Then I paint the surface with a flat white so I can see what I am doing when it comes time to add color to the panels.

Which leaves me with something like this.

Now it's time to ponder color schemes.......

A Grab Bag Of Progress Part IV

There were several pieces that I had in the show Things Of Which Our Mothers Would Not Approve, back in 2010 that were not quite done to my satisfaction.  However, in addition to preparing for the show, I was gearing up to move to Missouri for a year-long teaching gig at Northwest Missouri State University.  In an earlier post (HERE), I showed another piece I wanted to rework from that show getting 'finished'.  4 years later, I am finally getting around to tackling Pop Song: Mystic Guru.  Here it is without its carved frame.

....and some detail shots......

More about Mystic Guru in an upcoming post.

Laying down the second layer of line work for Within/Without.

My trusty piece of cardboard and my sketchbook.

...and a few more.

The line work is nearly completed for the second layer and then it will be time to add some color.

Next time we'll take a peek at the update for Divided By.