Try Again!

Often, I have an idea and it just doesn't work the first time around.

Source Image

I watched a short video about Michael A. Cummings. I decided not to try and imitate his style. Too complex for an ATC. instead, I wanted to use this image as my source.

Attempt #1

I planned to quilt the image, but I did not have the right colors of fabric. So I tried drawing... poorly.

Final ATC

I liked the portion of card that had five straight lines symbolizing fingers, so I tried again, keeping things more abstract.

On February 4, I tried to so a study of one simple figure (the cart-wheeling girl with a red dress) from Jacob Lawrence's "Harriet Tubman Series, panel 4."

I just tried to copy a portion of Jacob Lawrence's painting. It didn't work.

2. I changed her direction and added wings, be still tried to reproduce a fairly close image from Lawrence's painting.

3. I tried the same concept, but this time I painted with acrylic gouache on black watercolor paper.

4. I decided to freehand-cut mulberry paper and make it as a colláge . THIS one feels right....

Weaving FAILURE...

I am not sure how many HOURS this failed ATC took... but it was more than three...

I was inspired by Kente Cloth Designs, and I thought I could use a fine-gauge plastic needlepoint canvas as a makeshift loom. You can see the warp threads: the vertical five black, five yellow, five black, five yellow threads. At the bottom, I tried weaving green triangles. FAIL. Next I tried doing just a basic weave, first in red, then in green. Then I just experimented, using some stitches to lock the yarn to the canvas.

After SO much work, I didn't want to throw it away, so I added a needlepoint border and hoped for the best. I have never done much weaving. I understand the basic concepts, but I do NOT understand how the triangles are created on Kente Cloth. I know that certain type of weaving have very fine warp threads, and the pattern is created with the weft. More research needed.

I MAY try a paper method, from Mrs. Lundgren's Art Room.

I may try to improvise a simple loom. To be continued...

How Many Tries Does it Take to Get it Right?

The final card STILL isn't perfect. That banner was harder than I thought it would be!

I posted this ATC with expectations of getting a couple of trade offers, and planned to do better for the NEXT cards in the series.

But it didn't happen.

Go figure!

But I had fun making this card, and I think this is a fun photo of the "first three failures."

The Dud....

I draw "Doodle Cats" all of the time. Today I tried to draw "Doodle Crabs," and failed dismally.

I wasn't sure how many legs a crab has, but drew them anyway. Most of these have eight total appendages. Not matter what the "real" number is, this card is a failure. I will not be trading it.

The second attempt...

I AM trying to tell my story honestly, and that means including the bad cards. However, that doesn't mean I will trade those bad cards.

I did decide to try a simpler, single, stylized crab. I may tidy up the dark purple additions. I may not. But I like her enough to give her a name and post her on the April page.

AI Description:

I wanted to see how close my crab came to matchibng anyone else's "stylized crab," so I ran a Google image search. Here's what the AI says:

"This item is an art print featuring a stylized, mandala-style crab in purple on a black background.

The design is titled "Mandala Crab (blakc and purple inverted)
It is available as an art board print, designed for easy wall hanging
The artist is listed as "extremebunny."

1

Too plain.

The background is too streaky.

2

Better...
Background has been evened out.
Trimmed and "framed...."
but the single frame is not proportioned correctly....

3

Well, the frame is still a tad uneven,
but I like this version well enough to offer it for trade.

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