Tiny Worlds Retro Televisions-A Peek-a-Boo Project

 

We found a new show to binge early this year on Apple TV. Tiny Worlds is a nature Documentary narrated by Paul Rudd that focus on the smallest members of the animal kingdom. Each episode features a different habitats like the a pond, a meadow, woodland, and even a backyard garden. This show brings  new meaning to the phase “good things come in small packages”. The cinematography is stunning and the narration is enchanting. These are the inspirations for this artwork.

Supplies: GSLC Retro TV 1 , GSLC Retro TV 2, Miniature Still-life Images, Micro Pins, Neon Green and Orange Paint, Yellow and Green Acrylic Paint, Paintbrush, Pencil, UHU GlueStick, Ranger Glossy Accent Medium,Liquid Sculpt, Polymer Clay Oven, 

1. Gather Supplies.
   
2. Paint GSLC Retro TV 1 , GSLC Retro TV 2, with Neon Green and Orange Paint.
   
3. Add Highlights and Patina with Other Yellow and Green Acrylic Paints.
4. Print Tiny Miniature Still-Life Images. 
5. Use a Pencil to Trace Proper Placement of printed Images.
   
6. Use a UHU GlueStick to Glue Images into Proper Location.
   
7. Coat With Range Glossy Accents Medium.
   
8. Stack and Seal GSLC Retro TVs Using a UHU GlueStick to Secure into Place.
   
9. Use Liquid Sculpt and a Bit or Polymer Clay to Secure Chosen Pins as a 3-D Element to Retro TVs.
   
10. Heat and Cure in Polymer Clay Oven.
11. When Fully Cooled Add some Patina to Pins to Make Them Look More Vintage.

Final Thoughts:

I grew up without a television and spent many hours exploring the backroads and woods around our country homestead. We had chipmunks, flying squirrels, and baby brown bats living in or around our woodshed. As I child I was delighted with their company. Sometimes on the Sunday Nights we would go to Aunt Blanche and Uncle Lester’s home. While the grownup played cards us kids were allowed to watch Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom and Grizzly Adams. I was transported to worlds beyond my imaginations.

I had forgotten that wonderment and magic as the day to day of a working man takes over diminishing our joys. So when we discovered Apple TV’s Tiny Worlds my childlike wonder woke once again. I have always loved nature shows and have been amazed by the dedication of the photographers and film crews. It is doubtful that I will ever travel to some of the more exotic locations highlighted in episodes like rainforest, savannah, dessert , outback or jungle, but, The woodland, garden, pond and meadow transported me to my childhood home in the foothills of Pennsylvania. 

In Woodland a chipmunk hustles to make it through a year in the forest, while a host of other incredible tiny animals since every opportunity.

In Garden, it is  different land and yard from my childhood but I could totally related to the creatures featured in this episode.

From Duckling to dragonflies, all sorts of tiny wonders live in a freshwater, but for small animals in a big pot, life is full of danger. We go collecting pollywogs or tadpoles each spring from a tiny swampy area up over the “new ground”. My grandparents also had pond we’d go exploring whenever we went a Sunday visiting.

The meadow of their show is different than mine. Theirs had an adorable harvest mouse, queen bumblebees, and other critters that race to make the most if summer before their home is harvested for hay. My Meadow was know to us as the “New Ground” It was adjacent to our homestead  just past the “Old Road’ that edged both properties. It had a tiny spring fed frog pond, now I know as a vernal pond. The mosses that grew there were collected as children and and we would make moss gardens or terrariums.There were own little fairy gardens. The wildflowers would change throughout the seasons and it was place to find gray squirrels, baby brown rabbits, pheasants, even bob whites and an occasional bobcat, whose haunting cry sounded like a whaling woman. Later the Black bears returned and we see them there with their cubs. Many Whitetail deer lived  here with their sweet spotted fawns. Crayfish and Hellgrammites were discovered as we dammed up the local creek with the best swimming holes. It was a magical but sometimes lonely childhood for me. 

Sinners and Saints-Just a Halloween Costume?-A Peek-a-Boo Project

 

I have written about the juxtaposition  of what appears to be and what is. This is from my Blog Misunderstood Monsters and Mysterious Creatures:

In a world with wolves dressed in sheep’s clothing,

Come misunderstood monsters and mysterious creatures.

Take cover look, a deeper inspection.

Look beyond their gore and unbecoming features.

Like you and me, there may more be.

Longing, wondering, lost and lonely.

Stuck and Afraid wanting to be free,

Defying you to run toward them, and not flee.

Each of us upon closer introspection may find, 

Good and evil in our lives entwined.

 Monster to one, may be magical to another.

It’s rare in life we can have one without the other.

Supplies:  GSLC Arch Top House Silhouettes, GSLC Gothic Window Overlays, GSLC Gothic Cross Miniatures ,  Bizarre Souls Images from Etsy, Magazine Images,UHU GlueStick, Scissors, Sanding Block, Neon Highlighters,Copper and Red acrylic Paint, Paintbrush, Heavy Gell Matte Medium, Matte Gel Medium, Ranger Glossy Accents

1. Gather Supplies.
   
2. Print Images You Want to Use as Focal Points. I am using Bizarre Souls from Etsy.
3. Use Magazine Images of Your Choosing to Cover GSLC Arch Top House Silhouettes.
   
4. Cut Out Closely and Glue to GSLC Arch Top House Silhouettes.
   
5. Use a Sanding Block To Further Define Edges.
   
6. Use Neon Highlighters on Edges of GSLC Arch Top House Silhouettes.
   
7. Cut out Images You Want to Use as Focal Points. I am using Bizarre Souls from Etsy.
   
8. Glue Fussy Cut Images to Backgrounds Using UHU GlueStick.
   
9. Paint GSLC Gothic Window Overlays and GSLC Gothic Cross Miniatures with Copper and Red Acrylic Paints.
   
10. Once Fully Dry Use Heavy Gel Matte Medium to Adhere Them to Prepared Backgrounds.
    
11. Press and Dry Complete Flat Weighted Down.
12. Add RubOn Butterflies in Strategic Locations.
    
13. Add Rangers Glossy Accents to Insides of GSLC Gothic Window Overlays.
14. Use a Combination of Ranger Glossy Accents and Matte Gel Medium to Seal in Remainder of Collages.
    
15. Allow to Dry Fully Keeping Them as Flat as Possible.

Final Thoughts: 

We have enjoyed watching Netflix “The Sandman” with an older neighbor lady and she keep wanting to know if the characters are good or bad. We say it is not that easy. Morpheus , is not evil.However he isn’t good either. He is simply a member of the Endless and removed form the concept of mortal morality.

The Sandman is based on Neil Gaiman’s celebrated comic books. It isa reinvention of a relatively obscure DC character. It was pitched as a horror title , but it grew into so much more with an almost a cult following.

The First Season tells the tale of Morpheus, a.k.a. Dream, one of the group of immortal beings known as the Endless who escapes a 100-year captivity and sets about to reclaim his kingdom and his powers.

“People think dreams aren’t real just because they re not made of matter, of particles. Dreams are real. But they are made of viewpoints, of images, of memories, and puns and lost hopes.”

“For love is no part of the dreamworld. Love belongs to Desire, and Desire is always cruel.”

“Never trust the storyteller, only trust the story.”

“You hurt. It’s Okay. I hurt too. Hold my hand.”

“Maybe he wasn’t the villain of the story after all; he simply needed a long overdue nap. Like a cranky child who’s had too many lemon sugar drops and gone too long without sleep.”

“The price of getting  what you want is getting what you once wanted.”

What I like about Science Fiction and Shows like “The Sandman” is that it can be more real than reality. They can tell us truths in magical more fanciful ways than can be stated in our know realities.  Lessons learned, Destiny wanders. Path, tracing the way things must go.Though blind, he see all. Death greets each person at beginning and end, escorting the soul to “the Sunless Lands.” Dream rules the realm where mortal spend “one third of their lives.” Dreams give rise to hope. Desire and Despair, twins, inspire the extremes of human actions. Desire always pushed people to take what they want: Despair is the realm for those who have sunk below hope. Delirium who used to be Delight is incredibly creative yet lives outside the laws of logic.

Spooky Stories Left Unspoken-A Peek-a-Boo Project

I enjoy listening to podcasts, Aaron Mahnke has many of my favorites on his Grim & Mild Channel-Lore, Cabinet of Curosities, 12 Ghosts and 13 Days of Halloween. His 2022 13 Days of Halloween was titled Devil’s Night. A 12-year old boy and his dog need to get home on the most dangerous night all year. They must cut through the chaos and mayhem to survive. New episodes are released nightly on 13 days leading up to All Hallows Eve. These Episodes are like radio movies, with a soundtrack and voice actors. For the most thrilling listen experience, it is recommended that you plug in your favorite headphones and enjoy these audio dense episodes. 

Supplies:  GSLC Creepy Critters, GSLC Creepy Tree 5 Inch, Upcycled Cardboard Pieces, Magazine Images, UHU GlueStick, Sanding BlockTH Distress Stain of Your Choosing, Rub-Ons, Foamie SpiderWeb, Golden Interference Blue (Fine) Acrylic Paint, Paintbrush, Embossing Dabber, Clear, Black Glint, Black Sparkle, and Vintage Beeswax Embossing Powders, Plastic Palette Knife, Heating Tool, Brown and Magenta  Acrylic Paints, Pure Sheen Black Glitter,Golden Heavy Matte Gel Medium, Awl, Centimeter Hole Ruler, Embroidery Floss, Needle

1. Gather Supplies.
   
2. Cut Pieces of Upcycled Cardboard Into 3 by 5 inch Pieces.
3. Use Magazine Images to Create Backgrounds Securing with a UHU GlueStick.
   

   
4. Add Focal Points Using More Magazine Images Securing with a UHU GlueStick.
   
5. To Add a Vintage Appeal Gently and Randomly Use a Sanding Block to Distress Your Collaged Backgrounds.
   
6. Use TH Distress Stains to Fill in the Scratches-I like Weathered Wood, Gathered Straw, and Iced Spruce.
   
7. Add TH Barn Door Distress Stain to the Edges of Your Collaged Backgrounds. 
   
8. Add Rub-Ons to Your Collages.
   
9. Add Spiderwebs to Collages using a Foamie and Golden Interference Blue (Fine) Acrylic Paint.
   
10.  Use Embossing Dabber and Plastic Palette Knife to Add Clear and Vintage Beeswax Embossing Powders.
    
11. Use a Heating Tool  to Cure the Embossing Powders- This Will Create a Encaustic Effect.
12. Use Embossing Dabber and Plastic Palette Knife to Add Black Glint and Black Sparkle Embossing Powders to the GSLC Creep Critters. Cure with a Heating Tool.
    
13. Use Brown and Magenta Acrylic Paints to Paint the GSLC 5-Inch Creepy Trees. When they are still Wet Sprinkle with Pure Sheen Black Glitter.
    
14. Use Heavy Gel Matte Medium to Secure GSLC Prepared Piece to Collaged Backgrounds.
    
15.  Press and Dry Complete Flat Weighted Down.
16. Use an  Awl and  Centimeter Hole Ruler to Add Holes Along Chosen Parts of Collages.
    
    
    
17. Then Add Embroidery Floss Using a  Needle.
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    

Final Thoughts.

As I have stated before I am not a huge reader so Podcasts make me feel like I am at least “reading” an Audiobook. We have enjoyed watching “Lore-(TV series)” this anthology series brings to life Aaron Mahnke’s “Lore” podcast and covers the real-life events that spawned our darkest nightmares. It Blends dramatic scenes, animation, archive and narration. Lore reveals how our horror legends-such s vampires, werewolves and body snatchers- are rooted in truth.

I like how this artwork weaves together different elements and each seem to have a story to tell. If I were a more clever writer I might be able to reveal them to you but I fear I know them not. Maybe you will have a better chance at uncovering their secrets.