Star Wolves

I am going to try to explain the elation that occurs within an artist as she completes a piece of work that truly fits the vision that she had prior to creation. Well, no I guess that's almost impossible. How about I share the process? (remember! It's all about the process!)
This piece was in my mind all month. I have been really super busy, who isn't these days, and I have had to get really hard core about finding the time to settle into some collage work. I had an idea of what I wanted to do with this particular subject, the Wolf Moon. According to the Farmers Almanac's page about the moons, which is what I am using for guidance in this series, the wolf moon is kind of scary.
I quote:

"• Full Wolf Moon – January Amid the cold and deep snows of midwinter, the wolf packs howled hungrily outside Indian villages. Thus, the name for January’s full Moon."


Within these pieces I am using a specific motif with a rectangle box with a semi circle top. I pictured these wolves, pressing in on an Indian long house....and the idea began to gel. You know how I am working to supply most of the ephemera in these pieces with my own stuff, and I can assure you I have taken no pictures of wolves lately. Therefore, the only answer was to go ahead and paint the wolves. Scary. I am usually not willing to invest the time necessary to do this type of thing, but when you are able to only do one good collage a week, it seems important to pull out all the stops!

They began as a sketch in pencil. I really like this phase of the work. It's ummmmm...Leonardo-ish!

sketchy wolves

I don't know how I did it, but I managed to portray these guys in paint with success. They ARE hungry looking!
The next hurdle was what to do about the figures. I have been going thru quite a bit of deliberation and trauma over the figures lately. I don't want to just cut and paste people in. I don't want to necessarily have a figure in every piece, either. It's been a slight dilemma. I was tempted to use a family picture, with several people, not just a girl. But none seemed to fit as nicely as this pic. I decided upon this little girl...she's from the 50's I think....(I was a bit dismayed about not using an Indian village, but I am not sticking that tight to the theme.) She has the right look on her face, a wincing look. She's entering her house with some fear...and that's what I needed. The whole thing started then and there to remind me of the Little Red Riding Hood tale, and I was very happy my little girl had a hood. I was tempted to paint her coat red but I felt that leaving it gray would allow you to fill in these blanks--or not...  The wolf in the story was hungry, and the parallel fit so nicely, so I went with this idea. I like the fact that 2 different themes will fit the work. Sweet.
The pictures of the hawthorn berries in this piece were taken at night in my yard a few weeks ago with my Lomo Colorsplash camera that I have had for at least 6 years or so. It's a very touchy little manual camera, but I love the effect it produces and nothing matches it. I chose these photos to use prior to painting this piece, and so the color scheme was already set. The first thing people have said to me when seeing this piece is: "love the colors". In teaching design at SUNY Cobleskill, we spent time on colors and the vibration that occurs in the eye when using complementary colors. This is demonstrated well in this collage.
I feel good about this piece. It works for me, matches what I had in mind prior to execution, and that my friends, is a high like no other. Even if I cannot explain it.
And so, without further adieu, I share with you a piece that I am quite proud of.
The Star Wolves.

Star Wolves