December 15, 2015 


This may happen to you. You have made the form, added some details and covered your mask with layers of paper...

and you are NOT HAPPY WITH IT AT ALL!

It simply is not turning into the mental picture you imagined.

That's part of the process. You can keep adding to it. Stop and go do something else (I always have several projects going at once so I can switch), throw it in the trash, give it to someone else to finish, have a tantrum and yell "NOTHING I DO TURNS OUT RIGHT!"

Sure, you can do all of those things, but I recommend going to get a snack and taking a walk, or hugging your cat.

Dec. 15

Here is what is going on today. I am not happy with it at all!

I have built up the nose to my satisfaction and added some toothpicks for texture.

I used some crummy white paint.  The brand is Craftsmart.  I think it is from Walmart.  It is goopy and streaky and does not cover well.

I have had better results with leftover flat latex wall paint.  Any color will do because this is only a base coat.

Now I can examine my paper layers and see if I want to add any more to refine the edges or the surfaces.  Latex flat wall pint works well because it is easy to glue on top of it.





I think my final color will be a light brown that looks like wood or leather. Brown shoe polish rubbed over paint and polished produces a leather look with a nice sheen

I plan to add some curly wire for "hair" and probably some beads.

I have a vision that resembles this.

Note that I wrote 'resembles". I will have colors and beads and things sticking out but I will not reproduce this very same mask. That would not be creative at all.
Some people think being creative is doing the same thing another creative person can do. First of all, that is impossible since no two brains are alike.
Second, why do you want to make some thing exactly like some one else did?
Have  a chat with yourself about that.
There are plenty of mass produced things on the market if you want an exact copy of something.

One more thing... 

People often say to me "Oh I wish I was creative like you!

NO. YOU. DON'T.
 
I love being creative, but it is a blessing and a curse. I have had to learn to balance it. It keeps me awake so that I am often sleep deprived and I have very weird colorful dreams. My house is never, ever neat and tidy. I always have paint or glue sticking to me somewhere! People EXPECT me to be creative and ask me to do things. I have to say no a lot.