Final Collage: Fears

This is the full college.  I couldn't get it to turn the
other way.

This is the left side of the college, featuring the Carapace.
Note my beautiful hat.

I Take Risks:
Again, I will state that the whole process of collage making is a risk.  The biggest risk I took, I think, was with the doilies.  I really love those things. They're just so old-fashioned looking, you know?  So, I wanted to do a top border of the doilies, the lacy part overlapping the top of the trees,  But, the white was too overpowering when I set it up. I supposed I could've just done what I did to the newspaper, which was watercolor over it, but it seemed too unpredictable, so I used the doilies instead as a stencil. I put white over the holes in the doily, and maybe it sort of looks like snow?  If you look closer at the piece, you'll see I also did that with a lighter green pastel, too.  And then I crumpled up the doilies I used for that and glued them to the bottom.  I don't really know why I did that, and I don't know if I like it, exactly.  But, it was one of the biggest risks I took.
     Also, with the black charcoal marks around the hat and in front of the Faceless Man.  I had used that effect before, and wanted to suggest evil?  I don't know.  I sort of feel that I just suggested a really bad smell.  And the ribbon down the center was totally impulse.  I'm every proud of myself for that. It suggests that I might have good taste when I don't think too hard.

This is the right side of the piece.  Note the Faceless Man and
my beautiful sweater.

I Solve Problems:
Various problems cropped up around this piece.  First of all, as usual, I had no idea what I wanted to accomplish when I began. Secondly, once I did figure everything out, I messed up the execution. I'm sure everyone is shocked that hindrances such as these came to one as accomplished as I.
      My first problem came within the first steps -- modge-podging the second layer of tissue paper onto the first.  I put down a dark green first, and then a light green on top of it.  This was before I knew that I would be covering up the centerfold quite securely.  I forgot to glue the light green onto the dark green over the spiral, so I had to slit the light green open, as to not disturb the light green I'd modge-podged everywhere else, put modge-podge down the center, and close the slit so it didn't look like it'd been cut open. And then I just glued newspaper and stapled ribbon over it, so you can't even tell anyway.
       Secondly, the trees.  Ugh, they were annoying.  I layered them over one another and tried to make the branches look natural, etc, and when I was done I took a step back and realized I didn't like the color of the newspaper.  I thought it was going to be yellower, older.  So, then I watercolored the whole thing, even though there were some instances where maybe the layers of paper were too thin or the modge-podge hadn't provided enough casing, and the paper ripped everywhere the green just showed through.  And then I realized that I had to create a darker area where the trees overlapped so you could differentiate between trees, so I had to watercolor darker in some areas, which was annoying, and more paper ripped.  So then I just gave up on it and did brown oil pastel in all the crevices and smeared it everywhere like I was six or it was last year.  I don't know if you can call that a problem solved, but it certainly got the job done.
       And then there was the little issue of not knowing what to put down.  I knew that I was going to use the Faceless Man, but I debated what I should put on the other panel. I thought about using myself for a while, but then I decided that that would be to narcissistic and creepy.  Like the Carapace isn't creepy. But, as you can see from the completed state of my project, that problem eventually worked itself out.

The moment you've been waiting for . . .
My planning!  The other college leaked through
the Gesso, as you can tell.

The Faceless Man and the Carapace, the formative years.
That little line next to the Faceless Man is how tall I would be.

I Communicate Through My Work:
My theme was supposed to be fear, and it was suggested that I work on what scares me instead of working on random monsters.  It might seem that I ignored the proposal, but alack, I did not.  The Faceless Man is representative of the things that hide in the light, and the Carapace is representative of the things that hide in the dark.  So, the Faceless Man is all of my many nagging little fears that follow me around all day, while the Carapace is all of the things that worry me in my dreams.  And, between the two of them, they have me.
     I've been telling people that they ate my body and just kept my clothes, but maybe I'm sitting, huddling somewhere behind the trees in my jeans and t-shirt, silently shivering.