Mer-mess

I am loving this semester at school.  My graphic arts classes are all so interrelated that what I learn in one class applies to another.  In one class in particular, Illustration, we are getting some hands on art.  Last week’s assignment was to take a set of words and make a paper mache  sculpture to illustrate those words.  The words I selected were – Under the sea, fat, tranquil, mischief, sorry.  The first thing that came to mind was Ariel, in The Little Mermaid.

So I started out making a mermaid.  A fat mermaid.

  So I started out with foil and masking tape.  She is laying on the foil I covered with alcohol inks to become her scales later on.  Then I covered her in muck.

And I put her in the oven to dry.  Along with some masks I made from molds I had on hand.  The faces are all very serene and was going to use the mask to portray ‘tranquil’.

  I made several different faces and sizes because I wasn’t sure which one I would need.  So she baked all day long.  Unfortunately, since it was cool outside, it was taking the paper mache a while to dry.

 

 

 

 

 

 

So she dried.  I then painted her top half with acrylic paints, mixing to a semi-flesh color.

The bottom half I cut the foil into strips and scalloped one side and adhered with double sided tape on her tail.  I cut strips of yarn and used some strips of paper that came in a package box for her hair.  That went on with a glue gun and I only burned myself one time! 

For the mischief I had her poking a shell with a stick. 

So here is “Mermess”……