Thursday, August 23, 2012

Poe-etic Smeared and Smudged Member Blog Hop



This month on the Smeared and Smudged Forum we are celebrating everything Edgar Allen Poe, and our August member blog hop is no exception. The challenge was to create and share something inspired by one of Poe's poems, and as promised I am back with a project to show.

If you don't yet know what the S&S Forum is, why not swing by and take a look? Smeared and Smudged is an online community of rubber stampers and crafters who enjoy using alternative, gothic, edgy, and unique stamps in their designs. Although our focus is mainly along those lines, we embrace and respect all styles of art and would love to have you join in!

Also, I just must mention because I am too excited to hold it in...we have started signups for our 4th Annual 31 Days of Halloween!! We already have lots of participants and would love to have even more, so please be sure to read about it and perhaps join the fun! If you don't know what 31 Days is and you love Halloween or Day of the Dead, you simply must come take a look! You can find all the info HERE.

Okay, now that that is out of the way, I will share my Poe-etic project with you. It was difficult narrowing down to just one poem, but the poem that I ultimately chose to use is Spirits of the Dead. 


Thy soul shall find itself alone
'Mid dark thoughts of the grey tomb-stone--
Not one, of all the crowd, to pry
Into thine hour of secrecy:


Be silent in that solitude
Which is not lonliness--for then
The spirits of the dead who stood
In life before thee are again
In death around thee-- and their will
Shall overshadow thee: be still.


The night--tho' clear--shall frown--
And the stars shall look not down,
From their high thrones in the heaven,
With light like Hope to mortals given--
But their red orbs, without beam,
To thy weariness shall seem
As a burning and a fever
Which would cling to thee for ever.


Now are thoughts thou shalt not banish--
Now are visions ne'er to vanish--
From thy spirit shall they pass
No more--like dew-drop from the grass.


The breeze--the breath of God--is still--
And the mist upon the hill
Shadowy--shadowy--yet unbroken,
Is a symbol and a token--
How it hangs upon the trees,
A mystery of mysteries!---


For my project I chose to do a shadow box shrine on canvas. I took apart, altered, and re-assembled an old tiny shadow box for the main piece. It uses a bunch of paint and distress ink on the actual box, as well as the Grave Scene 2 from Smeared Ink's Holy City set, some 3-D birds that were painted and mounted, burlap, moss, and some dried flowers from my garden. You can't really tell from the pictures, but the graves are fussy cut and layered 4 times, and the birds are both "floating", neither on the back or on the glass.

The box is also embellished with metal wings and crown. On the sides of the shrine I have written out the words of the poem, and on the top the title and E.A.Poe, just in case it comes across someone who doesn't recognize the poem. The words on the front of the box are from the last line.


The canvas background actually uses a technique called cracked plaster on burlap. I have a tutorial, half of which I uploaded a while back into our Mixed Media University group on S&S. I had some difficulty loading the last video, but promise to have it up very soon!!(hides head in shame for taking too long). I've also used a metal tassel embellishment and a bit of twine.

*click for larger pics









I am not quite sure if this is complete. It feels a little unfinished to me, but I decided to leave it as-is for now and come back to it later to see. I don't want to overwhelm the meaning of the box by adding a bunch of crap to the canvas, but who knows. Hopefully later on I will have a fresh perspective, and I'm also open to opinions so feel free to tell me what you think in a comment.

So there you have it, now it's time for you to hop through this month's member blog roll to view the amazing talent! I know I can't wait to see what these awesome stampers have up their sleeves for the Poe-etic hop! Be sure to leave some love on their bloggies as well, and I will see you soon with another project.



19 comments:

  1. Oh - totally mindblowing. This is just an amazing piece. My jaw clanged open I can tell you :-)
    You simply MUST finished that tutorial....pretty pleeeeeez !!!
    Hugz xxx

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  2. Love it.. I like the 3Dish of it.. Pretty cool

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  3. Wow this is awesome love this. That shadowbox is so beautiful and the background is perfect for it

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  4. This is a wonderful expression of the poem! The feel of the hard rock of the tomb comes through perfectly as the backdrop for the intricate work of the details. I love it. IMHO adding too much would draw away from the focus of those fabulous details. The dangle in the center of the left side does the job. Just a bit of adornment but still keeps the feel of the tomb.

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  5. Great piece, really beautiful. Plz post the second part of the tutorial.
    Hugs,
    Julia

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  6. Wow!!! This is a terrific piece of artwork...AWESOME! The amount of detail is amazing! You really set the bar on this one...great job!

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  7. Hello, Terra this is simply gorgeous,so much dimension and texture. I love it. Vee xx

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  8. Gorgeous piece! I love the graves and the birds, and well, everything about it.:)

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  9. WOW! What an amazing piece! and you have Metal Tassels.....drool :)

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  10. Wow this is amazing!! I just love all the textures on there :D xxx

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  11. INCREDIBLE wow now i have to try something like this..i have a un-used configuration box..uummm even then it would not be as great as yours.
    hugs,
    susan s.

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  12. I love your shrine - so many details and wonderful techniques!

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  13. Awesome piece Terra! NO, dont add any more to it. I think it really does look great as is! Great effect too, much go and visit that tut! Love the wings on the side and the crown on top! This is wonderful!! Great job!
    Peace,
    Kristy

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  14. uh...yeah...what Ike and everybody else said! You are amazingly talented, Terra! Everything you create is gold. I hope to have half of your talent some day and yes, please post the rest of the tutorial so I may attempt to make something as awesome as your piece!

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  15. Oh, love the worn look and the text on the side is such a great idea! and that frame with the grave scene is stunning. XXlisa

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  16. Wow! Awesome canvas. Thanks so much for the inspiration. =)

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  17. Great work. Love the whole Edgar theme. Wonderful work.

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