Starting over - but not really.....

So I have started over - sorta, but n ot really. After working with my previous pieces i decided that I really didn't like how seperate the 5 stages were. While I did indeed go through each of the stages in my grieving (and still am), it was never so seperate. In my efforts to take the paintings I had made and merge them into one, I was not at all pleased with the results I was getting. I was getting them to blend together better, but I felt they weren't communicating the way I wanted them to. So, I started over with a vision in my mind of what I really wanted - after discovering what it was I didn't want. I have as a result a more flowing cohesive piece, currently about 9 feet long. The stages are still there and can be seen with the color shifts, but they are not as important as set stages, but rather as they work together to form one continuous image that represents the grieving process as a whole.

I remember in the last crit some people enjoyed the use of safety pins, adnhoped to go somewhere with that. I chose not to use actual saftey pins, but am still adding an extra element of metal rings that can help show some movement and directionality to the piece, as if mapping out my journey. The colors of the rings also mimic the colors of the stages themselves, which i think will help to show a jumping back and forth between the stages, as opposed as moving straight from one to another.

I still plan to use stitching as well, and have played with some possibilities with my old pieces of work. I have some good ideas going on there. I have also tested out a product that is meant for stiffeniong fabric - aptly named "Stiffy". It seems to work rather well.

So while on the outside it seems that I am starting over, I really am not. I have playwed and experimented, nd now I seem to know exactly where I want to go with it all, so progress will be much faster now. I have returned to the very beginning a little, as I am once again using the earlier method of painitng of wrinkled fabric, which I enjoyed immensly. I am also using the new methods as well, as I will still be tearing up the work and reassembling it to tell of my experience with grief. I am also moving forward with more progress, as I add the metal rings and fabric stiffener to give a sense of relief sculpture and lift it from the wall.

The ball is rolling, and from here it will roll much quicker as my direction is quite clear. Wish me luck!