As the 90 Day Art Challenge is coming to an end, I am losing a bit of steam. I have so many daily responsibilities, that if I don’t work on the challenge one day, it becomes harder to work on it the next day. Hence, why so many of the days were combined. But I’m pushing through.

Day 55 – February 24, 2018

I decided on the new theme for my next paper art project and began working on drawing trees. I wanted them to have odd branches that curled a lot to give them an eerie vibe.

Day 56 – February 25, 2018

I cut out two pieces of semi-transparent yellow paper, cut out the trees I had drawn previously and attached them to the paper. I plan on making a lot more trees.

Day 57 – February 26, 2018

I worked on another tree and attached it behind the other trees. I also made a moon to go on the right hand corner. I seemed to work super slowly today for some reason. So unfortunately, I did not get much done.

Day 58 – February 27, 2018

I continued working on more trees. I wanted some of the trees to be branching in towards the center to create a type of tunnel effect. I want the piece to look like there is a path of trees leading to something amazing or horrifying – not sure yet. I still need more trees to achieve that look.

Day 59 and 60 – February 28 to March 1, 2018

I continued drawing and cutting out yet more trees that would go in the background. I made sure to use lighter paper to make them look further away.

Day 61 – March 2, 2018

I made two more trees to add to the tunnel effect and attached all the trees to the clear paper. So far, I feel like I am getting the effect I was hoping for.

Day 62 to 67 – March 3 to 8, 2018

These past six days have been extremely frustrating. I have been rearranging the trees, adding more trees, cutting out a moon in the yellow transparent background and adding a white transparent background, then another yellow one behind that, rearranging the lights, and painting the back of the shadow box white, to make sure it looked the way I wanted it to to look. I rearranged the trees a lot. It has been a challenge, to say the least, but I finally achieved the glow and shadow look I wanted.

Due to the frustration with it not looking the way I wanted it to look, I did not take any pictures, until I finally achieved the look I wanted.

Between the layers, in the middle-ground, I added foam board to space them apart more and give the piece more depth. I also made sure to use different colored paper on the trees to give the piece a bit more dimension.

Day 68 – March 9, 2018

I cut out another tree and added it to the closest layer. I also added another piece of transparent yellow paper to the background on the left side, to make that side darker and make the side with the tree path and the moon stand out even more.

Day 69 – March 10, 2018

I added a few more trees, and then removed one of them, because it felt much too cluttered. Lastly, I bent some of the branches forwards and backwards to give the trees more dimension. Now I have to start adding the characters and the fallen leaves.

Day 70 – March 11, 2018

I began working on one of the little creatures that will be inhabiting the enchanted forest. It’s definitely a challenge working with smaller pieces, especially since I’ve never made any people this small, but it will be a good challenge. She is a little under an inch and a half tall.

Day 71 & 72 – March 12 and 13, 2018

I had to combine these two days, because I was unable to work on paper art on the 12th, so I put in extra time on the 13th. For this hour, I put together the little girl and made a mask and a tail for her. I also made the missing arm, a hand and some shoes. I had to remake the mask because I messed up the first one. I also decided to remove the face to let the yellow light seep in and give the little girl a more eerie look.

Day 73 – March 14, 2018

This is not entirely paper art related, at least not in the traditional sense. But I decided to create a little stop motion video using my newest paper art creation. It was fun being able to place the little girl in the different layers and seeing the trees move with every picture. It game me some ideas for future paper art projects. To view the video, click here.

Day 74 & 75 – March 15 to 16, 2018

I decided to take a mini break from working on the forest shadow box and instead focus on the Tree Woman shadow box since I felt that the look of the Tree Woman and the way I attached her, the lights and the window, was far from ideal. I wanted to make sure the piece was something I was genuinely proud of. So I removed all the pieces and began reworking the woman. I started with her headpiece. I am still not sold with what I made. I know I’ll end up reworking it again.

Week 8, 9, & 10 REVIEW

I have found that with anything I create, there are always parts of the process where I stumble a bit and feel less energized or motivated. While other parts are extremely energizing and I don’t want to stop working on my projects.

When I encounter these stumbling blocks, I think it’s good to take a step back sometimes and work on something else for a little while to recharge my batteries, so that’s what I did with the forest shadow box. Plus, I just wasn’t pleased with the end result of the Tree Woman shadow box. I feel like I can rework it and make it look so much better. We’ll see what happens. 🙂

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