Sunday, January 29, 2012

Mini 26

Miniature #26 - January 23 - 29, 2012, 2 in (D) oil and mixed media on wood
Mini 26 is the first mini with oil paint since mini 3.  I love oil paint - I love everything about it (except the toxicity of heavy metal paints, I guess).  It was the first medium I used the project, but I quickly learned that it's hard to build up layers in only a week due to drying time.  However, I've been thinking in through and decided to try working in acrylic and pencil on wood, then using one or two layers of oil as glazes near the end.  Mini 26 is the result.  It can't be seen it the photo, but mini 26 has a 1/4 in. thick, gold painted edge, and it was reminding me of a very fancy checker, but now, seeing it next to the coin, I find that similarity pretty funny.  I hadn't thought about the quarter while I was working (I only include it when I photograph to help give a sense of scale), but seeing these together, I guess photographing the quarter every week for 6 month made more of an impression than I realized.  This one was challenging (getting the shine in the eye was neither easy nor fun), but, I have to say, I find the oil paint particularly satisfying - somehow it has a more organic, want-to-pick-it-up feel than the pieces in acrylic (or maybe it's just the resemblance to a quarter?)

In other news - I deep cleaned the studio (though it hadn't quite reached the level of mini 13, nonetheless it was a formidable task). This month, I celebrated 1 year living in the tiny house. It may not sound like a big deal, but I've been racking my brain and can't think of another time I've lived in the same house for a year since I was a child.  I celebrated by getting a full-sized vacuum cleaner and some shelving units for the studio.  It's a hidden talent of mine that I'm actually good at assembling these sorts of things (and what's more, I like it - the directions are all in pictures, and the chance to use power tools lets me feel like I'm putting my education in sculpture to good use.)  Now moving them, on the other hand...heavy lifting is not my strong suit, but I managed.  In short, I love the tiny house (especially when it's clean and orderly).