WW: Octopus {Linky}

I've been working on a series of artwork showing a destructive human footprint in nature.

My latest piece is an octopus with plastic from a soda pack attached to it. 

I first want to start out by saying that it's both good and bad having a dad and husband that are artists. They are there to critique me. They are also there to roll their eyes about what I'm doing. The men in my life loved what I created, but they would have done it differently. My dad's not into color, and I am. The octopus in my reference was blue, and I totally changed it.

I started out with just a blue background, and used a plastic store bag to add different shades of blue.

Then I drew and cut out the octopus in different layers. I had a hang up because the fabric was iron on. Glue and clear medium wouldn't stick to the fabric. I had no choice, but to iron on the fabric to the canvas. It was interesting going around the sides. It was really hard when I got to the plastic, and it started burning.

I painted the octopus red with blue reflections from the water.

Elmer's glue was used for the suction things. I built up the circles twice. Then painted them with acrylics.

I was worried that the fabric would come up over time, so it was sewing time. I sewed all around the octopus' arms, and on the head. I don't mind sewing, but disliked getting close to the edge of the canvas where the wood is, and got annoyed making tiny knots all over the place. Ha!

The backside of the canvas:

My husband said, "The background needs more." I bought foiled chocolates that are blue and green, but didn't like the looks of that. I cut out circles out of clear plastic, but they wouldn't adhere to the surface with Elmer's glue. I put drops of glue and clear acrylic paint on glass, waited for it to dry and pulled it up with a razor blade. That way I could move them around, and decide which ones I wanted where. I glued them down, and added acrylic lines around them.

My next piece is an owl that can't sleep because it's in the city, I'm planning on making a crow smoking a cigarette and breaking into pieces, I want to make an alligator with a zip tie around its mouth, a duck that can't quite reach bread crumbs because it's standing in tar, a girl with a hoop dress/cage with pretty birds locked up in it. And the list goes on...

I already did 2 Native American pieces with city life taking over their land, an igloo with polar ice caps melting, a big sunflower with bees that have gas masks on. 

How a Good Day Can Turn Cold Day

Saturday was in the 70's and Sunday was in the 30's temperature wise. I'm not looking forward to winter. There's part of a reason why I went to grad school in the south.

The boys were great Saturday morning. We ran an errand. They were good there. They came back home and helped me bake and clean. They were wonderful little souls.

So wonderful that I let them watch a movie. Their choice was Home Alone. I didn't think at all about Isaak's separation anxiety. Yep that was a Mommy fail! They still liked the movie.

Mica got to call a friend to come over to play. There's a little story to this. The boy that plays with Mica all the time isn't as accepting as Mica is. Another little boy was trying to play with them and Mica said, "Sure you can play with us." The other boy said, "No you can't play with us." Then Mica grilled the unaccepting boy a little about how other kids can play with them. I'm proud of Mica for that. I told him that if his friend was like that again how he should just play with the kid that wants to join in and his friend can choose to be accepting or not. The kid Mica wanted to come over was the one that was left out. I just want to hug kids that are left out. It's such a tough world we live in today. My nephew that is 4 said, Why are those guys bullies." What was he talking about? Politician's on TV. That's what our kids see. That's what we're supposed to have them look up to. Mica called the kid and just got an answering machine, which lead to heartbreak. I left a message. Mica kept saying, "When is he going to call back?" and "Why won't he call me?" I kept saying, "I don't know honey."

Later on we found out that our land line phone was in use for 3 hours. It was off the hook and I couldn't find the phone. Mica was carrying it around while I was vacuuming, so he wouldn't miss a call back from his friend. The FIND button on the phone wouldn't work because it was in use. Mica searched high and low for the missing in use phone. He wanted my help. I was making dinner by that time. When he searches for things, he pretty much walks in circles expecting the missing object to hit him in the face. When Daddy got home he found the phone right away. Mica tried calling his buddy one more time and got another answering machine.

Isaak was laid down at 2:30. I know the boy is weaning from naps. He was a grouch. When he's a grouch he is a pain to Mica. He was just throwing things, trying to shoot Mica's stuff with Mica's Nerf Gun. He went from a good helper and sweet kid to a punk and a 1/2. Down he went. Things were quiet. I thought he fell asleep. :)

Then I heard noise.

Here's what Isaak's room used to look like:

 Close ups of my paper birds and paper puppy I made:

Cute right? Well it doesn't look like this anymore! :(  Isaak's long since peeled the middle part of the tree up. Yesterday he tore the owl off his wall and I found it on the ground. The nest was about to get tore up and I caught him red handed. I yelled loudly, held his face in my hands and said sternly, "You don't do that!" and off to timeout he went. He doesn't get the owl or the tree back. If he doesn't want a cute room that's his problem.


Later on I found by the puppy on the wall "Isaak" with all the letters backwards in pencil. He knows how to write his name the correct way. He was just experimenting. Then he colored in the open part  puppies tail on the wall; again with pencil. 

Do you or have you ever gotten so annoyed with your kids that you don't know what to do? He didn't want to nap, so he ransacked his room instead. I was so mad! I wish this was a scenario like when Mica slammed his door; where I could remove the door for awhile. Not so easy. His decor is about to fully come down though. I'm sick of him peeling at his tree and destroying his cute room. Part of me wishes I would have painted a mural on his wall. Then he would have peeled the paint more than likely. I don't know if I wish for him to have anything, "cute" in his room when he destroyed all that I put into it. Maybe it was more for me than him. I'm about to rip it all down and he gets just bare walls. I don't think that would punish him enough. He'd probably like having nothing on his walls. Maybe I'll take 1/2 his toys away. I need ideas here. A punishment that would make him wish he didn't do that.

One of my friends on FB just posted that her son's been peeling paint off their wall. I remember babysitting a kid that ransacked her whole house in the middle of the night. I suppose I should be thankful it wasn't that bad. It is the first time anyone has colored on our walls. It was in pencil. I won the tree, so I didn't pay for it. I'm trying to look at all the positives that are in the situation. I'm still ticked off.