if one has decided to do a series of portraits of her favorite movie psychos and serial killers, what is the first medium that springs to mind? why, legos, of course!
i already finished heath ledger as the joker in february, but i completed that project so quickly i never really managed to give my creative itch a really good scratch, and i've been jonesing to start another project. i was considering doing a portrait of marilyn monroe; there's this awesome photo of her that i love where she's holding a cigarette, and her hand partially obscures her face. but marilyn has been portrayed by so many other artists, i decided it would be considered too derivative. meh.
so i was surfing around, looking for a suitable subject. in my search, i image-googled "movie classics"....and when my eyes fell on this oh-so-very-familiar iconic image, i instantly knew it was going to be my next project. i don't even need to post a pic, because i'm betting you already know it; it's jack nicholson in the shining. i think portraying the villains is going to be even more fun than portraying the heroes!
tomorrow (or this morning, what have you) is going to be a busy day, so i prolly won't be able to start with the preliminary sketching until sunday. but i think i'm going to try and chronicle this project the same way i did the captain jack project, so stay tuned and i will keep you posted.
april 30th, 11:54 p.m.:
it's been a busy couple of days. this weekend, i did prep work; i ordered bricks online, gave my last sheet of pressed board a couple of coats of fresh paint, and sunday, i began drawing, graphing out the figure. i started on the right eye sunday night, and by late monday night, i'd gotten both of the eyes done. this morning, i had bob take a pic of yesterday's progress, but we've been busy today, and he only just now got it uploaded and sent to me. here it is:
i made a lot of progress today which i will post pics of some time tomorrow, depending on bob.
so how's it looking so far, folks? all questions, comments and criticisms are welcome!
may 1st, around seven pm:
i'm having a real struggle managing my bricks; money's kind of tight right now, so i've been trying to avoid ordering any new legos unless they are absolutely necessary. the joker project seriously depleted my selection of black bricks, so one of the reasons i picked this image was it's overall lightness of color.
when i'm working on a project, i tend to submerge myself in it, so i've been pretty preoccupied around the house, which i suspect bob finds frustrating. i don't want the new hubby to begin to hate my lego projects. today is our five month anniversary, so earlier today, i made sure to spend some special time with my sweetie!
is that an overshare? ;)
jack as of this morning--
may 2nd, around noon:
bob just took this pic of yesterday's work--
i don't have a lot of texture going on in this one. the broken door framing the face is mostly 2x bricks, as is the face; only the background above and below the face will be 1x bricks. i'm running low on black bricks since i used most of em on the joker and haven't had a lot of money to re-up.
i really want to get this piece finished before the eleventh (edit: i wanted to submit the piece to be considered for this local juried show; unfortunately, i wasn't chosen to be a part. curses-- foiled again!) i am considering temporarily cannibalizing the joker; i could pop it out of the frame and pull black bricks from it's lower right corner to finish jack, and replace them later in the month when i have the time and money to buy more.
so, anybody out there feeling like donating any legos for a good cause?
may 3rd, around 2 pm:
here's the progress as of last night.
wow, i'd say it's at about 75% completion, not counting the work i will need to do on the frame. the hardest parts are finished, but now i face another difficulty-- finishing the piece with what bricks i currently have. i have some white bricks ordered and on the way, which will help. i'm just afraid of running out of the little 1x2's . . . . all of those vertical lines, oy gevalt! but like the man says--
"make it work!"
that's my plan.
may 6th, around 5:30 pm:
well, i've had a busy past couple of days, what with it being my birthday yesterday and all, so i haven't made a lot of progress either on the mosaic or this blog. here's how it looked yesterday morning--
and here's how it looked this morning--
and yeah, bob chopped his chin off, but until i get my own camera fixed i am in no position to complain (much.) i was able to cannibalize enough black bricks from the joker to complete the face; now i just need that last order of white legos to come in so i can finish the broken door framing his face. i'm pretty pleased with how this piece has turned out overall. now i just need to consider the frame; should i make the frame white, or red? and should i make the frame simple, or should i "distress" the frame in the same manner that i did the joker's frame? i was thinking of scratching "here's Johnny!" and/or "REDRUM" into the painted surface of the frame. how about it, fam and friends? thoughts? opinions?
may 9th, around eleven am:
...and the fat lady has sung.
so i have been waiting for that last order of legos to finish this piece...and waiting, and waiting, and waiting... i was expecting the package around the fourth or the fifth. then the evening of the sixth, i receive and email letting my know that my package was shipped that day. i was pretty peeved with the seller, as he should have shipped before last weekend; would the bricks arrive in time for me to finish and get the mosaic entered in the juried show?
then salvation showed up in the personage of my good friend bryan-- bryan brought me a big box of legos as a belated birthday gift! wahoooo!!!! it was not only enough legos for me to finish here's johnny, it was enough for me to replace all the bricks i had cannibalized from the joker as well! i am a happy camper.
as of yesterday morning--
so i just need to finish work on the frame, and i am all set! i'll be sure to update this blog on whether or not i get into the juried show. thanks to my friends and family for all their kind support, and a special thank you to bryan, who is my hero for the week!
update: june 4th--
well, i learned on june 2nd that i did not get selected to be in the allied arts summer juried show. bummer. i felt sorry for myself for about a day or so, but that's all; i am well aware that not everyone likes my style, and there's nothing i can do about that. i'm not michelangelo, but who says i have to be? receiving praise for my work is nice, but it's not the reason i make things. i create because i must; it's as basic a need for me as eating or sleeping.
