I gathered in a set of folders a bunch of images I felt like would work: Backgrounds, Colored Textures, Striped Textures, Images of Stuff, Images of Objects the pieces can be built around.
Then I just picked an 18"x18" square chalkboard texture, an old yellowed paper texture, an old Red Top to put in a 3"x3"square niche in the center of the panel, and the image of a really nice old circular Hebrew Astronomical Plate:
I made the 3"x3" niche, put in the Red Top, and arbitrarily cut out two shapes out of the chalkboard layer, a rectangle and part of a circle. Naturally, the design is symetrical, which always seems to be my basic first instinctive idea:
Now, I need to add some red to match the Top, and layer the lines of the Astrological Chart in white on the Chalkboard, and in black on the Paper. In order to do that, I need to cut out the background, invert the chart, and save it as a .png with a transparent background.
So I add as layers a red texture, the chart, the inverted chart, cut them out to fit, and use a Multiply effect on the chart layers so the lines blend in subtly. And then I try, just to see, adding a Drop Shadow effect on the red layer. Bingo, I love the simple trompe l'Oeil that created, making the paper layer appear recessed behind the chalkboard layer, with the real niche cut even deeper, which will eventually contain the Red Top :
Next, I decide I want to try another ruler like background texture along the vertical sides, and a vertical ruler texture along the middle(still my primeval obsession with symetry). So I pick the image of a Surveyor Pole, cut out the background, and invert the image.
That will be duplicated and added with a Soft LightEffect.
I also have on file the image of a bunch of old yellowed tape measures/seamstress tapes:
I pull out images of a few more red objects that catch my eye, including a Chinese Contract, my signature Wax Seal, the Red Cord I used in the previous piece, a Red Lapel Button, an old aged tag, a brass Name Plate, a rusted nail, and one of my favorite long time symbol: an old Brass Plumb Line Bob. I move them around a bit, add Drop Shadows to create a Trompe l'Oeil depth(very important to me):
It looks pretty good already, and some people would stop there, but it doesn't quite have my look yet. It's a little too plain, and I have to introduce a few of my "quirky" touches: a wasp spider and a Horn Bug crawling, a Bee in flight(with shadow), a square plate under the seal with 4 nails, a Domino leaning on the Trompe l'oeil Arch at the bottom, a rusted clip on the cord(I have no idea why, it just seemed to work), and decide to hang a real Old Key on a real Rusty Nail appearing to also hold up the Tag. All these things are positioned to overlap, and cast shadows, which is one of the basic rules of Trompe l'Oeil.
The working title will remain "Red Top" until I think of something more clever to write on the brass plate. I have not figured out either yet what the Tag will say, but here is the pretty much final composition now, and I am pleased. I feel it is really starting to look like me, an evolution of what I have been doing, just smaller and simpler, with a hint of Cornell, but certainly not to be taken for a Cornell. Plus of course, it is not an "Assemblage", since there are only two real objects there anyway: the Top and the Key. The rest is Illusion, with a twist of Surrealism, and that is the way I like it:
Then I just picked an 18"x18" square chalkboard texture, an old yellowed paper texture, an old Red Top to put in a 3"x3"square niche in the center of the panel, and the image of a really nice old circular Hebrew Astronomical Plate:
I made the 3"x3" niche, put in the Red Top, and arbitrarily cut out two shapes out of the chalkboard layer, a rectangle and part of a circle. Naturally, the design is symetrical, which always seems to be my basic first instinctive idea:
Now, I need to add some red to match the Top, and layer the lines of the Astrological Chart in white on the Chalkboard, and in black on the Paper. In order to do that, I need to cut out the background, invert the chart, and save it as a .png with a transparent background.
So I add as layers a red texture, the chart, the inverted chart, cut them out to fit, and use a Multiply effect on the chart layers so the lines blend in subtly. And then I try, just to see, adding a Drop Shadow effect on the red layer. Bingo, I love the simple trompe l'Oeil that created, making the paper layer appear recessed behind the chalkboard layer, with the real niche cut even deeper, which will eventually contain the Red Top :
Next, I decide I want to try another ruler like background texture along the vertical sides, and a vertical ruler texture along the middle(still my primeval obsession with symetry). So I pick the image of a Surveyor Pole, cut out the background, and invert the image.
That will be duplicated and added with a Soft LightEffect.
I also have on file the image of a bunch of old yellowed tape measures/seamstress tapes:
I pull out images of a few more red objects that catch my eye, including a Chinese Contract, my signature Wax Seal, the Red Cord I used in the previous piece, a Red Lapel Button, an old aged tag, a brass Name Plate, a rusted nail, and one of my favorite long time symbol: an old Brass Plumb Line Bob. I move them around a bit, add Drop Shadows to create a Trompe l'Oeil depth(very important to me):
It looks pretty good already, and some people would stop there, but it doesn't quite have my look yet. It's a little too plain, and I have to introduce a few of my "quirky" touches: a wasp spider and a Horn Bug crawling, a Bee in flight(with shadow), a square plate under the seal with 4 nails, a Domino leaning on the Trompe l'oeil Arch at the bottom, a rusted clip on the cord(I have no idea why, it just seemed to work), and decide to hang a real Old Key on a real Rusty Nail appearing to also hold up the Tag. All these things are positioned to overlap, and cast shadows, which is one of the basic rules of Trompe l'Oeil.
The working title will remain "Red Top" until I think of something more clever to write on the brass plate. I have not figured out either yet what the Tag will say, but here is the pretty much final composition now, and I am pleased. I feel it is really starting to look like me, an evolution of what I have been doing, just smaller and simpler, with a hint of Cornell, but certainly not to be taken for a Cornell. Plus of course, it is not an "Assemblage", since there are only two real objects there anyway: the Top and the Key. The rest is Illusion, with a twist of Surrealism, and that is the way I like it:
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