blinded by the guinea fowl

I started this piece in March, which goes to show how long it takes to chop up a zillion pieces (a few lost with each big breath), stew over toes and poke toe papers around (at least a month's worth of stewing and poking), and place stamens on one at a time with tweezers.

I'm going to forgo modesty for a moment and share something I'm really proud of.  Everything went as expected with this piece.  I enjoyed every minute making and putting the flowers together.  Her face was a delight to make.  And the feet were just as tough as I expected them to be.  But not so tough to cause any extra anxiety.  When I got to the feet, which I saved for last, I went into making them with the mindset of, "this is going to be tough," and thankfully that's all it was. 

When I map out a project, I can't tell you how many times I end up changing things because I didn't take the time to think everything through.  Not this time.  And I'm so proud of that.  

I listened to a lot of Ladysmith Black Mambazo and Beats Antique while making this piece, and oddly enough, I feel like the spirit of those artists comes through.  She's such a happy, sassy guinea fowl (who really doesn't look much like her guinea fowl friends).  And I think the colors have a lot to do with the beautiful music I listened to while creating her.

Now I get to spend the next month carefully sealing her.  Wish me luck!

Here are some fun pictures of the progress!

I love these little tea tins I saved from a gift set a few years ago.  I spent a little while figuring out how to lay out the flowers both on and off the piece.  I didn't know what my favorite color was going to be, but it quickly turned out to be purple and gold, so I tried to make those pop the most.  

This piece is huge, about half the size of me.  So I spent a fair amount of time with it on the floor.  The dogs aren't allowed in my office.  Hair and collage aren't friends, but my girlies are usually right outside my door while I work, and occasionally an ear or lip finds its way into my office.  This always cracks me up.  They know what they can get away with! 

First flower!

I used a few chocolate wrappers, and I love the way the gold glows in the sunlight.  Who knew a person would ever say, "I was blinded by the guinea fowl?"