Weeks 6 & 7 - art school - happy accidents do happen!

We have been working  in our class with Tibetan papers (fibrous but somewhat translucent papers) and rice papers. After creating a collage using handmade papers, fabric, photos and other interesting pieces, we had the choice of using a gel medium or encaustics (beeswax) to attach all the pieces together. Most of us put an extra piece of Tibetan paper on top, forming a sandwich.

I guess I didn't add enough gel medium, and the great papers and fabrics I had in the sandwich didn't show well once the medium had dried. The colours are definitely there, but only some of the detail can be seen and only in some spots.

Decision time. Do I start over and try another piece, or do I see if I can make something out of this piece.

Not wanting to start over, I decided to persevere. After all, sometimes our artistic accidents turn out to be a good thing. And it's only through continuing with the piece that we know if we'll end up with something that will turn out even better than the original plan. 
 

Although this piece is about only half finished (again I took on way too much and have oodles of homework), I'm getting a textured look by adding a design common in the 18th century (the meandering thread line in green) plus the dragonfly as a focal point. The focus is now on the embroidery instead of on the papers and fabric sandwiched in the middle, and which are now a colourful background. The picture here is just a small portion of the piece - about 1/6 of the whole thing.

The Ottawa School of Art is giving us gallery space from March25 to April 8 at the Shenkman Arts Centre - I'm thinking this piece, if finished, will be on display. If not this one, then I better get cracking to start something else!

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