I Sometimes Think I Do My Best Work Under Pressure.

If you follow my Facebook Fan Page, Ann-Monique, you know this already. I'm finally adding it here.

Exciting Winter Break this past December/January. Went to my parents for 2 weeks, got to see my brother when he came over from N.Y.C., and got a commission for 3 pieces for an Off-Broadway Production called A Woman in Progress, being done by the company my brother is involved in, Mind the Art Entertainment, that needed to be completed in less than a month.

Yep, 3 pieces in about 4 weeks. They needed a drawing, a painting and an original sculpture (and no, I don't have any real experience in sculpting).

We caught a break with the drawing, I had one available in my portfolio that was the kind of look they were wanting. There was another mixed media piece as well I had done for fun ages ago that also had the look they wanted only it was 8.5"x11". I did a larger similar version in acrylic on a 24"x36" canvas. Since I already had a composition to go by, the painting when quickly.

The big project of course was the sculpture. Considering the time element and my lack of experience with most materials, I chose clay. (Imagine that)

I briefly considered using non-fire clay so I could just send it back on the plane with my brother and his girlfriend, but I quickly put that idea aside. By the time I had spent the money on enough for the size they needed, I realized I might as well just buy a low fire clay and pay to have it fired and then shipped. I knew it wouldn't be dry enough to fire before the end of the Winter Break. I also knew that being a stage prop, it needed more durability than non-fire clay can provide. So I "bit the bullet" and spent the money to do it right. The process when much easier than I had even dreamed to hope, the hardest part was actually doing all of this at my parents house, with no real convenient place to work and all of my tools locked up in my locker on campus! But I was successful and had a blast getting it all done.

Here are the 3 pieces we ended up with. I especially had a great time doing the sculpture since it was a new experience for me. It looks whiter in the photo that it does in reality. Must be the flash. Its more of a buff color. Eventually it might end up glazed, we'll see.




I should mention here. These pieces were not being purchased by the company. The plan is to hopefully in the future auction them off to raise more money for the charity that the Show's proceeds were being donated to. The people involved were not receiving financial compensation for their work, but volunteering their time for a good cause. This is a group of very talented individuals. Check out their website: www.mindtheartentertainment.com