Tuesday, August 15, 2006

Works in Progress and Dead Animals

I've been working on some art things, though not as much as I would like. The space that I'm currently in (IE, the basement) is not exactly conducive to being creative all the time. And there's something I want to make right now but I cannot for the life of me find my Bristol pad. It makes me sad. But I'm sure I'll find it somewhere in this mess.... Anyway, remember that self portrait that I blogged about a few months ago? Yeah, I still ended up hating it when I came home after training. So the other week I decided it was time to erase it's existence. The image on your left is what's coming of it right now, and it's in progress. I'll keep the steps to follow a mystery for now. I can't reveal all the tricks up my sleeve, now can I?



This one.. well.. I was originally going to be doing a traditional sort of oil painting with it, but wanted to see what would happen if I went a different direction. I kind of like it, but it also is a work in progress. Problem? I don't know what to do with it. It's meant to be a gift for a family I'm close to.... but like I said, don't know where to go with it. Hmmmmmmm. I think the fact that it's not centered is bothersome, and it's too late to fix it.
We'll see where it goes.




Finally, we've got a light box in progress. I'm so glad that I started working on this idea, although I need to start working on the other aspects of it... drawings, text, etc. I'm pretty pleased with how this part is coming along, and there will be more done to it. Again, where it's headed will remain a mystery. But really, if you want to know, just ask.
Really, all I wanted to do was show some pictures of what I'm working on, and prove that I am doing stuff.. just slowly. Right now my time is focused on making phone calls like a mad woman.

By the way, any thoughts and constructive criticism are appreciated.


In other news....
I went to Cabella's for the first time the other day. The only real reason that I wanted to go? To take pictures of the stuffed critters. That probably sounds morbid. It probably is morbid. But that's how I roll, despite the fact that it was creepy. I don't think I've seen that many dead animals in one place at one time. Actually, that's not true, because I've been to a number of natural history museums - that's really how I roll.

At any rate... my assessment of Cabella's leaves me thinking, Wow, this place reeks of testosterone. Perhaps I am cynical because I am not a hunter, and I'm not super fanatical about being outdoorsy - though I do love running around in the woods - I just couldn't help but be overwhelmed by a stereotypical American male ego in that store. I would probably feel the same way if I had gone to a super-duper-car-store or something. Particularly, it was all the hunting stuff in juxtaposition to all the mounted animal trophies. I've never been a fan of the idea of people hunting for the sake of having a trophy (and not using the animal parts for much of anything), so do you blame me for finding it to be the epitome of ego glorification? Really, the building itself is comparable to a temple, in the sense that it is massive and filled with tools to equip and things to aspire for, physically speaking. And yet, I probably take it to a ridiculous level in thinking this way. I think in the end, I'm just curious about why people show off the things they've killed that never had a war with them in the first place. Okay, so that sounded cynical. I would ask why we need a store that's as big as Cabella's, but I'm the one that loves to go to Ikea.

Anyway... here are some photos of the animals. If I had the guts, I'd look into learning taxidermy...... no pun intended.






That's good for now. There's actually quite a bit more than that, so I decided to upload them onto Flikr. It's at http://www.flickr.com/photos/yivviepants.
Other thoughts on the stuffed animals... I went into the Deer Room which, needless to say, was a room packed with deer. It was interesting in the sense of the repetition of the deer heads on the wall and then all the full-body deer in the room. Yet, despite the fact that they were all deer, they all were very very different. Of course, making things individual is something God is an expert at, but I had no idea how varied deer could be. I was keenly interested in the fact that there were very few bucks that had perfect antlers. A lot of them had points going off in all kinds of crazy directions (which, I wish I got more pictures of). The only way I'd seen a buck depicted, it had perfect antlers without deformity. It's like candy coated venison, flawless. Yet, there were the ones in that room where the antler deformities were crazy. A sign of humanity's aspiration for perfection? Possibly.

4 comments:

28th St. and Eternity said...

Have you seen reality tv shows like "The Contender," or "Ultimate Fighting Championship"? Have you sung the tune of Rocky Balboa, "it's the thrill of the fight"? There is just something built in the very fiber of the masculine soul for fighting, for conquering, for warring... the sad thing is that man is so bored that we fight for things and against things that have no meaning in the grand scheme of things. May be I would think differently if I lived in a different part of the world.

Yvonne said...

I hadn't thought of it in quite that way.

You've got a little bit of Wild at Heart in you yet, P.

But seriously... I was just wondering today about his definition of the masculine soul. If it would be different in, say, Asia or Egypt or a jungle tribe. Do you think it would be?

28th St. and Eternity said...

that's a good question... I wonder if his convictions are solely from observations in Scripture or if they are also sociological. Anyway, it's been too long since i have read the book and I never finished it, to know how much i line up with him. But overall, I think I like what he says...

Yvonne said...

I'm fond of what he says, as well- but then again, I only read the first chapter and heard about the rest through word-of-mouth. I did read Captivating, the women's aspect of it, which most of it I agree with.