Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Final Treatment of Heart And Daggers

Final treatment......happy Anne!
I did not realize, as I have been in way too much of a rush lately, that I had not posted the photo of the completed "Heart and Daggers". I finally mounted it on a birch cradled panel, rounding the edges with my handy dandy bench grinder and then had a ball with techniques I learned in Michal deMeng's class.
I had to jump out of the box, and this is from a girl who seldom is IN a box, let alone knows whether she owns one to stand in! LOL! I went for my hardware drawer in my table upstairs and one in the cellar and pulled any likely suspects out. There spread before me were insulated staples, tacks, wires, washers.....you name it. I was treading into uncharted territory! I was on a MISSION!
I didn't really have a clue what I was doing......
I knew I wanted a specific feel for the background, so painting that wasn't too hard. 

"New Orleans Tomb" color combo....neutral, effective.....
And I had treated some of the insulated staples and washers with molding paste, so that seemed okay.
I just had to put it all together....
Normally my work consists of everything being held together with Golden gels, but this piece had a bit of heft, so I thought, well, if I use the washers, I need another *industrial feel* piece to accent them, and the insulated staples did the trick. Series of washes had brought them up to the nice *Crypt Corrosion* color and when I had the piece drilled, hammered, swathed in paint and all together, I liked very much.

*Crypt Corrosion*~~doing it's thing! Left panel shows the layers of color washes

It's okay, but just not quiet there......not tied together enough.
But it still needed a hanger and if there was something sticking out of the TOP, then there had to be something to balance out on the bottom.
I had changed out an old chandelier in the living room before the holidays, and still had the monster sitting around because I wasn't sure what to do with it. But the clear gold wire was perfect to take paint with the help of some heat, and it became the hanger on top.

I knew that butt-ugly chandelier was good for something....WIRE!!!
I had rooted around and found (while looking for other things...oy!) some cool Fleurs that I had bought with the intention of jewelry, but I grabbed one of those and went to work on it, aging and corroding.

Insulated staples *holding* things together; lovely, aged Fleur.....Oooooo! Too good!
What destructive fun! :-D This is right up my alley!
So, the final piece is greater than the small work I had originally. I was hoping to not overpower it, and by keeping colors somewhat neutral, it worked. Everything fell into place.
I was also hoping to not hammer the wrong thing while putting the corner staples in; I did NOT know how I would replace a broken plastic sword.....
The gods of industrial tools were smiling on me......
(except that one that rules the heat gun, and he is a little STINKER......)
Now go make art! Have fun~~get outta the box!


Pax....

30 comments:

studio lolo said...

fantastic!! The fleur hanger was a great touch. You exhaust me when I read all the moved you go through to make a piece!! I'm glad no one was injured in the making of this!

Any storms near you? I'm hearing nasty midwest weather reports.

Nice to see you out of the box you were never in!!

xoxo
Lolo♥

Anne Huskey-Lockard said...

Hey Lolo,

We missed the storms yesterday---have no idea what we're in for today; it *IS* Indiana, so it could change in 5 min!
I wasn't injured other than the usual hammer-to-the-fingers trying to keep it away from the little swords~~LOL! Just the norm around here....

XXOO~~♥
Anne

Elena said...

AWESOME!!! LOVE the aging, the colors, the details. Have 1000s of questions but will ask when my brain comes back. It ran away yesterday and hasn't come back yet. I wonder when I can issue the official missing-brain report?

Anne Huskey-Lockard said...

Mine ran off with you; I think maybe one kidnapped the other...LOL!!!
Ask anytime---you know the ph #!!!

XXOO~~♥
Anne

marianne said...

very nice! the hardware store is one of my favorite art supply places and now i have a few more items to look for next time i'm there.... it finished very nicely, and i bet it looks great on the red wall!

audrey said...

BRAVO! BRAVO! It is wonderful, Anne. I love it!! Michael has opened up a whole new world of art for you.
♥ ♥ ♥ audrey

sparringK9 said...

the new orleans tomb treatment is superb! Ive seen faux painters around here making giant money for not as good a surface. its amazing. the whole piece is an astonishing manifestation of process and clever material choices.

(its chickory btw)

Anne Huskey-Lockard said...

Hey Marianne,

I have an address for a company you'd love getting their catalogs~~I'll pop it off in an e-mail. Lots of quirky electric/hardware type leftovers! I could have gone berserk with it....

XXOO~~♥
Anne

Anne Huskey-Lockard said...

Hey Audrey,

You know, I knew I would benefit from the class, but I wasn't sure how it would fit into what I already do.
It was a GOOD FIT!
I am happy! ;-)

XXOO~~♥
Anne

Anne Huskey-Lockard said...

Hey Chickory,

Thanks on the substrate comment; I have to admit I hated to cover it up! I kept a recipe for how it was done, but I think it is one of those things that would vary from piece to piece.
I had a ball.....obviously!

XXOO~~♥
Anne

Janet Ghio said...

Nicely finished and I love the crypt corrosion color and texture!!

Anne Huskey-Lockard said...

Thanks Janet!

I am rather fond of *Crypt Corrosion*......the fact that I have FELT corroded most of the Winter probably has something to do with it...LOL!
It's an easy layered wash to do and can look so different, depending on how many layers are built up.

XXOO~~♥
Anne

becky said...

Anne,
the final piece is beautiful! love it. fun seeing your process along the way, too. interested to see if you come up w/ some other ways to "recycle the rest of that chandelier!
:)

Anne Huskey-Lockard said...

PARTS of it Becky! It is really beyond anything other that scavenging fittings and wire. It was one of those with the acrylic things that hung down (ugh...). I have disliked it since we moved here around 20 years ago and finally decided to replace it and the dining room light---more parts! LOL! Well, I still have to do the dining room install--class came first!

XXOO~~♥
Anne

Karen S said...

Sometimes I hate covering up a cool piece of fabric with another cool piece of fabric -- but we must suffer for our art!

This is so totally well put together. Great work!

Anne Huskey-Lockard said...

Karen, I know exactly what you mean; it is always the coolest bit of *whatever* that gets covered.
I swear, I could have kept that substrate and just looked at it.
But people think I'm nuts as is---I don't want to give them anymore ammo!!! :-D

XXOO~~♥
Anne

Cathy Bueti said...

Anne, I love this piece!! I am a sucker for hearts anyway but love the colors and the grunge!! Its great! :)

Anne Huskey-Lockard said...

Yeah Cathy, I think the combo of bright and grunge is what works for me.
I love red (luv-luv-luv) but in some pieces, it gets watered down so much that it's punch is lost.
Here I was able to keep that primary brightness and then set it off with the crusty neutrals.
It's almost like I knew what I was doing! :-D

XXOO~~♥
Anne

Unknown said...

Hi Anne!!! your dimensional hearts always amazing me...they are gorgeous!!!! the textures and details blow me away!!!! wonderful work as always!!!!

Timaree said...

I don't normally go for the hardware stuff but you do it really well. This is really, really nice. It speaks of faith more than religion. I love it.

Rebeca Trevino said...

very kool!

Jan said...

Anne, each thing you create is so wonderful and shows so much attention to detail and creativity. You never stop in your quest for perfection, always finding just the right element to bring to fruition your vision. This one is definitely another success. Well done! What is the measurement? This would sell so fast in the right place, they would be clamoring for more. You must have put many hours of work into it, let alone brain time.

GlorV1 said...

I love that Crypt Corrosion look.Excellent piece. Your work of this type reminds me of Stephanie's work over at
http://rodrigvitzstyle.typepad.com/rodrigvitz_style/
Her work is just excellent as is yours. Great piece Anne, you are quite the artist my dear. Have a wonderful week and thanks for sharing.

marilyn said...

Just amazing, you and the work!

Anne Huskey-Lockard said...

Hey all,

Thanks for the kind comments on this; I got side tracked from the computer and y'all got way ahead of me!
I have enjoyed reading your thoughts on the piece; how you see it, what you like. Generally by the time I get something done, I just like that it is finished and my perspective is gone!
You have given me new eyes to see it~~and that is great! Thank you!

XXOO~~♥
Anne

Janine said...

Your artwork is really unique.
I love your hearts, that is absolutly awesome.
And I want to thank you for your dear comment on my last post.
Hugs
Janine

Carol said...

I'd love to see that catalog you refer to "Lots of quirky electric/hardware type leftovers!" I assume it's American but I just don't know where to find interesting things here in Australia. Any chance of the website, please? Carol xx

Anne Huskey-Lockard said...

Hi Janine & Carol,

If you want a laugh and some fun stuff for assemblage, art, or whatever(!!!), check out American Science & Surplus:

http://www.sciplus.com/index.cfm

They have all sorts of, well, STUFF! I always end up spending money there.....

XXOO~~♥
Anne

Mary Helen-Art Saves Lives said...

Heart and daggers is totally breath taking...let us all pray for an early early spring without tornadoes. Peace, Mary Helen Fernandez Stewart

Bunny said...

ooooooooooooooooh this is gorgeous. Love Love it.

Post a Comment

Talk to me Dahling!
I'm waiting, breathless...... ;-D