Start of the Mourning Doves

I have been wanting to make a wall piece to fill the empty space above my bed and I've finally started! Other than my dandelion piece that I made awhile ago this is one of the first big projects I've done on my own that has not been a class assignment. 

I've had a vague feeling for a long time now of what I want to make but haven't really been able to envision it. I've spent this week trying to articulate my feelings into colors, shapes, forms, textures. I drew a few simple sketches of designs.In the end though, there was only so much I could do without actually playing around with some potential materials I had bought. Here are the sketches: they're VERY simple :)

I wrote down my thoughts, feelings, images that I had in my mind that I wanted to capture. This is what I started with:
PASSION. Dark red. Life. Nature. Graceful. Peaceful. Life-giving. Brown. White. Textured white acrylic paint. A hint of metal- something man-made. Contrast of natural and mechanical. Delicate. Soft. More white. Flowers. Movement. Growth. Energy. Nurturing. Uplifting. Details.

I am someone who likes to plan ahead. It makes me nervous just venturing into the unknown, uncertain of where exactly I'm headed. But I learned from my art classes that art is going to require some uncertainty and spontaneity- some going with the flow, riding the wave. I looked at this white canvas. Focused my internal eyes on the words I had written above. Took a deep breath and dove in. Here are some photos of what I ended up with today and some of the process of getting there.

 

I glued together sticks I had collected into a shape that captured the feeling of gracefulness, energy, movement, growth. 

 

 

Next, I used wire, a textured paper, and Mod-Podge to make a flower.

 

As I was arranging the branches, I had a defining moment. I realized that I wanted to put birds in this piece. It felt fitting and slowly I started to get a concept in my head of what I want to do with this artwork. I had wanted to somehow incorporate wire in it, so I decided to attempt to make a wire bird. I had never done this before and it was actually really scary starting it. I watched a youtube video to get an idea of how to start.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJsEV0sLoWQ

I researched mourning doves on google images and observed its basic shape. I printed out some photos of birds in the actual size I wanted to make the wire bird...about 4-5 inches and then I just went for it!

 The other challenging part other than just making the bird is that I only needed half a bird because it's going to protrude from the canvas. I needed to add a tail though because when people see it from the front view, the bird will need to look like it has a tail.

 And so...this was the product for the day! I spent maybe4 hours on it today. I still have quite a ways to go but I think the hardest part is done- starting it and having a vision. :)

Thanks for reading!

-M