Friday, 17 August 2012

Third Layer - Louise Nevelson




 
Louise Nevelson, 1899-1988, is a favorite artist of mine.  She created abstract wooden environments, or sculptures, out of found objects.  Her work is especially appealing to me as I love working with wood and I love architectural pieces.   What I also love is the texture and her ability to show depth through layering and shadows.  I have long wanted to do a gigantic piece to hang on my wall.  I have started collecting objects and intend to get to as soon as I can. 

 

She is my inspiration this week.  First, I searched around the house for objects that I could use in this project because I wanted to make sure that my sectioned off page would fit my objects.  Sectioning off of the page was done by hot gluing popsicle sticks directly to it.  You can use whatever you want or whatever you have available, even simply, strips of paper.


I started hot gluing objects to the top of the page and worked downwards.  Once I had the objects laid I boxed them in with the popsicle sticks.  Be mindful of balance, and variety.  You want your page to look interesting.  It doesn’t matter about color obviously as, in Nevelson style, you will paint over the whole piece with one color.  Her colors used were white, black, and gold.  As this is a journal page, white works nicely as a background for words and thoughts.



I took my page outside and spray painted it white, you can also just use a paint brush and paint it.



When the paint is dry, use a sharpie and start writing.  Very cool.

PROMPT:

Being envious of someone is a lousy feeling.  Why is it that we want what others have.  The new clothes, the new car, the house, spouse, etc. etc.  I  believe it's because we have been conditioned to believe that these things will make us happy.

Millions of dollars a year are spent on advertising what you 'need' to have to be happy.  I've got to tell you, many of my happy times were when I had barely any possessions at all.  While being a student, and single mom, I lived in a basement apartment that had leaks in the ceiling, the power would go off every time I plugged in two things at the same time, and I dealt with bugs and bats.  Despite my living conditions, what made my life wonderful were the friends that I had, and the son I loved and still love so much.

Going back even further, I grew up in a family of eight children.  I had to share my room until I was late into my teens, I received hand me down clothes, presents consisted of one or two items, and certainly doing any activity that cost anything was out of the question.  At no time did I think my life stunk because I didn't have the material things others had.  What made my live great then was that I had wonderful friends that I was able to hang out with and share my life with.

Having oodles of money and possessions does not guarantee happiness, that is for sure.  Simply look to Hollywood lives of the rich and famous.  There is a lot of unhappiness evidenced there.  This condition is not exclusive to Hollywood as I am sure you are aware.  No, happiness, I believe comes from having people around you that care about you, and that you believe that you matter in this world.

Let me encourage you to take a look around and appreciate the non-material things that are important.  Your friends, family, and relationships.  Less time at the mall, more time visiting and sharing with people who matter.

***********


But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.

1 Timothy 6:9




  

No comments:

Post a Comment