Tuesday, March 6, 2018

Impatient Artist

A few smartass, rebellious, and/or lackluster moments aside, I was pretty much a compliant, please-the-teacher, strive-for-good-grades kind of student during my years of formal schooling.

That said, a distinctly impatient, let-me-learn-by-doing streak shows up as early as kindergarten when the project at hand is to create a Santa Claus head from construction paper. By 'create' I mean use the supplies and instructions provided by the teacher. When Miss Williams demonstrates how to make accordion folds in strips of white paper for assembling Santa's beard, I just cannot sit through the instructions—I grab that white paper and get to work folding, figuring it out as I go.

Done!

That Santa beard—or, more specifically, that kindergarten Dotty—comes to mind today when I decide I want to make an acrylic skin for possible use in my current work in progress. I can't quite remember the order of steps needed to make an acrylic skin so I pause to look online, but I just cannot sit through those youtube videos. I skim through 21 minutes' worth of footage in about two minutes, grab what I need and get to work, figuring it out as I go.

Done!

acrylic skin ready for use once blue tape is removed
and once sheet of clear arylic is lifted from the plastic sheet
on which both paint and gel medium were applied



10 comments:

carol edan said...

I certainly can relate to YouTube videos....they can sometimes drive one up the wall. Can't wait to see what you are going to do with those skins! I am still trying to get grips with acrylics that that seems far in the future for me. And, I have Dotty to tell me the steps,,1 2 3

dotty seiter: now playing said...

Like you, can't wait to see what I do with the acrylic skin.

I'm laughing at you're knowing I'll be at the ready to give you the impatient person's instructions!

Simone said...

I have no experience at all with this acrylic skin kind of thing! Looking forward to your experiments!

dotty seiter: now playing said...

One of the gifts of an acrylic skin is that the scribbles can be so spontaneous and intuitive when you make them, and then later you can cut pieces of them to try on a WIP without having to commit to them the way you'd have to commit if you made the scribbles directly on your WIP (not sure if I'm making myself clear here) but in the end they carry their essence of spontaneity into the finished painting.

Lola (Jen Jovan) said...

SKINS! Love them!!!! And love your "to heck with the instructions" attitude. You are unstoppable! xo

dotty seiter: now playing said...

THANK YOU, Jen!

I remember how exciting it was for me to graduate from college, start my first job, and recognize how much more freedom and space I had to direct my own learning. Pretty much unstoppable since then (and since then = quite a few years).

Janet Bradish said...

Way to go Dotty! Instructions can be stifling and I love that you are fast forwarding to your way. I usually nod off in some of those videos. Can't wait to see where this shows up!

dotty seiter: now playing said...

Thanks for cheering me on in my Dotty-specific ways of learning, Janet.

Adventures lie ahead. The acrylic skin will appear in my current WIP, or it will not. If not, somewhere someday.

Sheila said...

OK, so how did you make these? Did you drip from a brush, or use a squeeze bottle. Bottle I think.
These are just too fun Dotty. I think you need to use them today, right now. LOL. Have fun my friend. Soooo looking forward to seeing these in your art. Someday. ;)

dotty seiter: now playing said...

Latex paint from a repurposed squeeze bottle. The paint viscosity was more than would have been ideal, but it'll be fun to use regardless. Thanks for cheering me along!

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