Goblin Halloween Diorama - Part 27- Photos- Field Project

Trees added and base painted.

I am finally catching up after a trip to the mountains.  Now that things are returning to normal, I can get back into the studio.  I've been interrupted in this project so many times that it is a wonder that I can get back to it at all.  Every time I have to break off and return to a project after an extended period, I have to say, "Where was I?" and try to remember my what I was thinking when I had to stop.  Every time that happens the concept for the diorama shifts slightly.  This project is nowhere near my original idea for this project. 

Ghosts on the trees.

Field 10-26-2014

Sometimes changing the concept is a good thing.   I have had to distill my ideas down to what the essential message for the piece.  Just as trying to paint too many sticks and branches in a painting clutters up the painting, too much detail in a diorama gets in the way of what you are trying to say in the diorama.  I hope that by paring away much of the detail of the diorama will actually highlight the message of the diorama.  I wanted to keep the original idea of ghosts and goblins might get you from the idea from James Whitcomb Riley's poem Little Orphant Annie.  I also wanted to portray the feeling of  a person confronting their fears about the unknown and the abandoned and dying.  Hopefully, some of that will come out in the piece as it progresses.  Let's just say it will have a surprise ending.

I have done a little work on the diorama since I returned.  I have painted the trees and added them to the diorama.  I have also painted the base.  I have also made and painted more ravens.  Tomorrow I should be adding the ravens to the trees.  I plan to have a whole flock of raucous birds up in the trees.  The trees look a little dark.  I needed them dark in order to show off the ghosts.  If the trees were any lighter, they would not be seen.  I may add some leaves to the trees so that they are not completely bare.

The tree closest to the house has a ghostly figure of a woman at its base.  The tree furthest from the house has two spooky ghosts.  Perhaps they are a little to silly looking, but I want to confront childish fears of ghosts and goblins.  I tried to strike a balance of older tales of the "lady in white" with the fun of Casper the Friendly ghost type ghosts.

The ghosts were made using a used dryer fabric softener sheet.  I cut the shapes out glued them to the trees with acrylic gel medium.  The white dryer sheets are made from a very thin material which allows the color of the tree to show through.  This gives them a very transparent look.  Just the thing for ethereal ghosts!  I used a fine line marker to draw faces on the two whispy ghosts.  I did not add any features to the female ghost.  I wanted her to be nothing more than an overlay; perhaps the remaining energy of a former owner of the house.

Check back on Wednesday for more on the diorama.

It is Sunday and I'm home, so I was able to get a field picture this morning at 9:00 am.  It was 54 degrees (Fahrenheit) and winds were calm.  We have not had a freezing day yet this year.  The weather forecast does not predict one for this week.  I expect that we could get a frost in the next couple of weeks though.  I don't think the new owner of the field was able to get any tomatoes from the plants he put in.  I think he was too late putting things into the ground.  He did not purchase it until well after the planting season had begun.  He might get some tomatoes if the frost holds off.