February Work Tearaway Zen Tangle GirL

Over the weekend, I attended one day of the Victoria Hughes' workshop presented by the Arizona Polymer Clay Guild.  One of the techniques we spent some time on was tear-away images.  Although there were several good toner-based images to choose from, of course I had forgotten the ones I wanted to use.  Nevertheless, the techniques learned were the important thing, and getting to touch base with Victoria was a much needed boost to my creative juice reserve. The workshop was refreshing and ran very smoothly with no pressure.  Just the way I love classes to be. 

Yesterday, I got a chance to practice one of the techniques, and used the image on the left; one I had done several months ago and then made photo copies on our toner-based printer.  It's a Picasso-type girl done in fine marker and the dress/shirt was done in a zen-tangle pattern. I did the tear away and the first one I did was so good, except for one spot.  Unfortunately, that spot was right in the middle of the face, making it unusable.  This one didn't turn out as 'deep' but the image is still quite discernable, particularly when viewed in real time.  All the markings are there, they are just a little less distinct as the original.  I used a burnt umber acrylic paint to demarkate the image and intend on using this portion in another polymer clay journal/book I am working on. The little turquoise inserts are from some prebaked inlays.

Another unfortunate thing is the quality of this photo image.   I had to use my Blackberry to take the photo, as our other digital camera's battery is no longer charged, and the charger is nowhere to be found here in Arizona.  We will get another battery charger (or battery) hopefully so future pictures can be clearer. 

In Polymer Clay Daily yesterday, the reference was to combining media and even though I don't aspire to be much of a picture-type artist, I do enjoy dabbling in penwork from time to time. I decided that combining that work with some of my polymer work is a nice balance.  Isn't that what Zen is  about anyway?.