Something in the style of an artist I admire

‘Something in the style of an artist I admire.’

Hi Birdy Heywood here again with another Blog.

As a member of the Powertex Design Team 2017 we were asked to pick 4 subjects to cover for our blogs. One option I chose was ‘something in the style of an artist I admire.’

There are many, but 2 artists appeal to me the most. Those are both Gaudi and Dali. Probably because my own style is more surrealistic rather than realistic. I love all things organic.  Gaudi’s art simply oozes with a connection to growth, movement and to the earth itself.

Creating helps me to bring to the fore, my deepest feelings. Some are happy and others are more thought provoking, both allow me to release them and set me free.

Art is all about expression. I see it as a language. A language that can be interpreted in several ways according to the person who creates it and those who observe it.

 

Gaudi’s buildings grow out of the landscape

as if they had been there for hundreds of years.

Dali, well I just love his work too. He dared to leave reality behind

and express himself in the most peculiar of ways.

 

Now to my own particular work of art

First of all I want to tell you how this came about.

Many years ago, an ex partner of mine was jealous that he had not been part of my past. He showed dislike for my much treasured paintings and drawings dating back from the time I was a teenager. I dreamed then of becoming and artist. Stupidly, as a token of my affection, I made a fire and threw all of my paintings and sketches on it to be consumed by the flames. 

This picture is the only one that survived. I sketched it with a ball point pen on a scrap of paper when I was 13 years old whist on a visit to Germany.  A relative scanned it and sent it to me a few years ago.  Seeing it again bought back all sorts of emotions.

Teenage years as we know, are difficult. As a victim of abuse when I was seven I often felt trapped, dirty and useless. Drawing helped me to express myself and I drew many such heads growing out of the ground. Heads with no arms, no bodies. The surrounding landscape was hostile and barren. Somehow these bodiless heads survived, silently observing the destruction of what had once been a beautiful world.  My family called me ‘weird.’

I see now that what I was expressing, was that feeling of being helpless and trapped.

As I took this idea further my POWERTEX Creation released me.

‘The Release’

Dali created, heads growing out of the ground, strange creatures with long spindly legs, melting clocks that defied space and time. Gaudi erected the strangest but also the most beautiful of buildings, each with a life of its own and a message with each of them.

I decided to use my strange bodiless heads from childhood to set me free.

One of the heads had to break free and I felt it was to be me.

I knew that with Powertex this would be possible, more effective and enjoyable than just a drawing.  Besides, each month all Powertex Trainers have a challenge set. This is just for enjoyment so no pressure.  During the month where a ‘Collage’ was the subject, I decided it was my chance to tackle the subject of letting go.

As with everything created from the heart and deep subconscious, I was very emotionally charged.

Apart from the heads themselves which I created out of polymer clay using my own moulds, the rest of the creation was made using only Powertex products.

The heads trapped on the ground were rooted on the rocks.

I created the rocks using natural fabric soaked in Bronze Powertex.

The background was created using Easy 3D Flex. 

This is great as it cracks whilst drying revealing crevices.

I created the heads out of polymer clay

I used an old t-shirt for the rocks, then when dried I used lighter colours and

dry brushed it to bring out the texture. (More on dry brushing later.)

Easy 3D Flex  is great for creating the texture of the dry, cracked, earth

Gaudi’s style influence me whilst creating the rocks with strange shapes. For these I used torn up egg  cartons. The foliage was created using Paper Dec and the little berries using Sand and Balls. Both Powertex products.  I used Powertex Hardener Green for the foliage and Bronze Hardener for the rocks.

I love the texture of egg cartons. Hah, Hah, little things please little minds

​and I am easy to please.

I mixed a tiny bit of Bronze  Powertex with some Ivory to create a clay like shade then added Stone Art to create a clay that I could form. With this I created little rock formations.

Powertex Stone Art

Dry brushing really brings out the texture. The egg cartons have a natural stone like surface.

I began first of all to brush a lighter shade of brown over the surface gradually mixing lighter

and lighter  shades until I ended up with just the Ivory.

Once I have finished a canvas using the Powertex

I find such wonderful textures to play with

in a photo editing programme called Picassa. (

A free programme)

Anything is possible

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