Monday, January 25, 2016

Seasons of Change

I think most people on the east coast of USA are ready for a change of season! While I am a lover of all 4 seasons, I must admit that after shoveling the nearly 3 feet of snow, that was dumped on our area this past weekend, has left me not too keen for more of the "white stuff"! I do however love being snowed-in, especially when some of that time can be spent creating... as was the case this weekend. The project that I tackled was my guild's February challenge piece, of the theme "4 seasons (spring, summer, autumn, winter)".



I kept thinking of one of my favorite songs, by singer songwriter Nicole Nordeman... called Every Season (you can listen to it here). I love the word imagery Nicole uses in her song to describe and make us sense each season; and this featured in my thoughts while creating this challenge piece. I decided that I wanted to do a series of small wall hangings that depicted the growth changes of a plant from spring to winter. When brainstorming my ideas for this, I was excited about the concept of using the background of each canvas to depict the season's weather. Spring would have raindrops, summer would have hot blazing sunbeams, fall would have a colorful sunset sky, and winter would be a frosted coating of ice.


























I created the backgrounds first, and had a lot of fun doing these! I used inks, washes and paints on the polymer for the winter and summer canvases. Spring raindrops were created using liquid Fimo drops, and autumn background is a simple skinner blend of sherbet sunset colors. The plant begins it's life as an unfurling and budding shoot in spring; leafs out and flowers in summer; changes leaf color, fruits into berries and begins dropping leaves in autumn; and finally is bare branches, picked over berries and decorated with snow for winter.


I created the canvases so that they can be hung separately, I like how this separateness allows for changing up the look of them and gives the owner flexibility in how they will be displayed.


I had a lot of fun coming up with various ways to shoot them with the camera, imagining different ways in which they could be hung on the wall, or how they might be stacked upon one another in a shop while waiting to be sold.


If you didn't notice, the winter background has a treatment of inks with mica, which makes the frosted background appear different at varying angles, you can get a good idea of that effect in the following 2 photos:



I'm not sure if I like them best grouped together in a bunch, like the first photo of this blog post, or displayed in a straight line... then there's the option of vertical or horizontal... 



I'm really quite pleased with the turn-out of these pieces, there's something about each one that I love, but overall I think that the summer one is my favorite. That's somewhat amusing to me, as I'm not a summer girl... while I love all the seasons, the sultry hot and humid heat of the summer is probably my least favorite time of year. Which one of these appeals to you most, and why? Does it correspond to your personal favorite season? I'd love to hear your thoughts on this project, please leave me a comment below! Voting for this challenge will open on February 1st at the PCAGOE blog. I'll post a reminder here when the vote is open!

14 comments:

  1. Amazing ! Especially the spring one with the rain !

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    1. Thanks so much Robin, for your kind comments! :) I was pleased with the rain too! ;)

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  2. I love all the details in each piece!

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  3. These are fabulous Beth! I love them. The raindrops are very clever. It is always fun to see what you and your talent comes up with.

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    1. Thank you Betsy! I was really excited about the raindrop idea, I'm happy with how it turned out!

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  4. I love all of these, though I think I am also partial to the summer scene. That is probably the gardener in me, as I love all things green and blooming! Each has its own unique take on the season - I think you have depicted the changes very well. I would probably hang them vertically, myself. Well done!

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    1. Thanks so much Diane, for your thoughtful and kind comments! I love reading others' perspectives and preferences! :)

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  5. Amazing how different they look stacked! Wonderfully well-thought out designs. Great work!

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    1. Thanks so much Marie, for your kind comments! :) I had a lot of fun positioning them for the photos, I'm glad that was conveyed!

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  6. You did it again Beth! These are wonderful. I like spring and fall as a favorite season but I love your winter scene best. There is something so peaceful about it. There is another way to display them. Vertically, starting with the spring on the bottom. The shoot is just starting, growing during the summer then loosing it's leaves to be left with the new growth resting in the winter. It's brilliant, really.

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    1. Aww... thanks Line, for your generous and thoughtful comments! :) Yes, I like the idea of a series with varying ways of displaying them... I think I'll try to do other series like this too!

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  7. Beth, these are so utterly fabulous. The concept, the colors, the finishes, every detail is superb. I can't choose a favorite season, although I am especially fond of how you treated the backgrounds for summer and winter. Truly spectacular.

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    1. Thanks so much Tammy, for your kind comments! I too like the summer and winter backgrounds best, I was really pleased with how they turned out. :)

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