considering cannibalism

I've been a wee bit stressed the past couple of weeks. There have been various events that have worked hard to produce a twitch beneath my right eye that feels sort of like its grooving to a club techno beat. (No amount of rubbing, tugging, or cursing removes this phenomenon by the way.)

Last night I was out with Leann and Deb. Leann moved the conversation toward the assemblage show that she and I and Joan are putting on this October & November.

Apparently Leann has six completed and Joan is nearly done with five. (We have to make seven each.) If you combine the three that I've started, I've got half of one done. Which means I'm way way way way way way way behind.

I knew this but somehow having her verbalize how many she and Joan have done sent that twitch beneath my eye stomping full force across my face.

After I got home I did what any rationale artist would do: I marched straight up to my studio and had myself a little freak-out.

I examined other assemblages I did and considered breaking them apart and cannibalizing them into new work. I pulled out every drawer from my storage units that have found objects in them. I made a complete and utter mess on every flat surface available.

Then I edited them back to two piles:




After I ran a few errands this morning I set to business. This month is as busy as last and I need to manage my time better. (This could be the mantra of my life.) Prior to going to Fabrications I had put myself on a schedule of X amount of time in the studio to get things done. Saturday is an art day and that's what I did.

By the end of it, I have four that are near complete. I realized that one reason I had stalled was because I was planning to do all seven very similar to each other. That sort of stripped back the biggest part of why I love assemblages - which is the spontaneity of it all.

So I played. I pulled together whatever I thought was fun and just went with it. I stopped because the four in progress are in drying stages right now but tomorrow I should be able to glue together the rest of the main elements. I'm big into detail work on assemblages so getting all the gluing out of the way will be huge.

I have ideas for two more which will put me at the six mark. Here's where I ended with four today (these are just progress pictures, they aren't complete by any means):

(* The four small pieces with the felt pebbles are the only cannibalism committed. They are small wall art pieces I made last year for a holiday bazzaar that didn't sell well so they are getting moved into a new role.)

And here is what my work table currently looks like:


I'm hoping to have a repeat performance tomorrow. Its assemblage central around here. And mess central. And twitchy eye central. Lots of centrals...