Candy Art

Artist Trading Card

Rennata M. Tropeano, Candy Art, Digital Print 3.5×2.5 inches ©2010

The creative mind plays with the objects it loves

The creation of something new is not accomplished by the intellect but by the play instinct acting from inner necessity. The creative mind plays with the objects it loves.
Carl Jung

I have been struggling with the creative everyday theme of body so far this month.  I was searching for quotes as an inspiration to a new series when I came across the above quote.  The first part really defines a lot of how I approach a new creation. I like to play to experiment and it all comes together into something that is more than play, more than intellect, that speaks to me on some level and I hope that it speaks to others as well.

The second line hit me this time. The creative mind plays with the objects it loves. Hmm, I do not hate my body, but nor do I love it.  I think I will have to think of this some more.

I have been exploring other types of bodies, Mermaids and Fairies rather than focusing on mine. When looking at fantasy, many times what is explored is the things we can not do. Fly, Breathe under water, do magic, technology that is beyond what we have right now.

Another thing that fantasy lets us explore is the what if. What if we never progressed beyond steam technology, or the Victorian ideals of culture.  This is one of my current favorites, “Steampunk” It can mean so much to so many different people.

Well, I need to get back to revising web sites and reworking my artist statement, but first I want to thank those who read an comment. You really make this a fun process for me. If you have any suggestions or comments that you would like to make, please let me know.  Thanks! Rennata

Time and Space are Fragments of the infinite….

For the use of finite creatures- Henri  Fredric Amiel

I enjoy making ATC and Stephanie at Steff’s Stuff has a weekly ATC card theme. I was just saying I was looking for some routine. As I find the ATC to be a fun way to play with different color combinations and layouts, they are an excellent way to recycle my test images.

In other artistic endeavors this last week I have continued working of a couple of fairies from the book I reviewed.  I have also started a study of faces, as I was not happy when I was working on the faces of the fairies. I am finding it very hard to get back into the swing of things after all the time off after New Years and Christmas.

I knew that this ATC needed to made the moment I saw that the theme for the week was for Hats. I had been thinking of trying to put together something with the hats, the parasols and the pocket watch.  I kept thinking that it needed a teacup and flowers, but that would have made it very Allison in Wonderland. I did add the candle as the extra light really brightened up the parasols.

“Fragments of the Infinite”

The importance of play and accident.

Yesterday we had one of  those days at work.  I have always enjoyed the water, where it meets the endless sky, sunrises and flowers.  One of my favorite things about the 3D environment of Second Life is that you can always take a quick visit to the water’s edge,  make it be sunrise, sunset or what ever time of day you prefer.  When I am trying to relax from a busy day, yet at the same time get some writing done,  talk to kids, answer phones, and otherwise live my life, I find that just leaving my laptop open with one of these ideal scenes sets the stage for a positive attitude.   I am still on the search for images for the covers of my hand tied journals and I need to  get going on my word count, so naturally I set up the laptop, popped over to one of my favorite sunrise settings and started to write.   I am just getting going when I something jerks my attention away and the thought crosses my mind, “These interruptions are going to be the death of me.” I  take a deep breath and look at my beautiful setting just in time to see someone else popping into the world above my head. This means that they were  seated on the couch I was on when they logged off.  The polite thing to do in this situation is to say, I am sorry or some such, and then move off the person’s head. Then it is polite for me to say something like, No problem, or some such. It is all very much like accidentally bumping into someone while at the store.  So I watched while they came into focus. When you first come into the world, you appear as a grey mist while the graphics card catches up and renders your appearance.

Yes, in fact the grim reaper had shown up over my head.  I just had to take a screen capture, and no, he did not apologize, he just moved off.  My daughter then rounded the corner with a “That is beautiful” I pointed out the dark figure and she loved it even more, it became “Epic.”  I stopped, took some time to look at her drawings, talk about art and just enjoy the accident of this creation.  The rest of the evening was wonderful. Taking the time to relax, to play and be open to what ever might chance to come about  can lead to some “epic” art, and more importantly, an epic time.

Day Three and All is Well

I am well behind the word count if you go by the take the month and divide by the number of days goal.  However, this does not  worry me as I know that it will come. 

  Today’s Artwork is Crystal Flowers.  I made the flowers more translucent, moved them away from the arch and choose sunset rather than moonlight.   I will crop this one a bit before printing so that the flowers are not quite so dead center.

I received a couple of questions about how did I create them. 

The flowers were made in a 3d Sculpt program.  The software lets you create what is called a sculpt map.  A sculpt map looks like this.  When you apply this sculpt map texture to a 3d building block in a 3d enviornment it morphs into the flower shapes that I have “photographing”.  In the 3D environment that I work in,  the basic shapes come up looking as if they are made of plywood.  I then choose a texture. These flowers have textures that are designed to look like cut gems, diamonds and saphires.  I tinted the one flower purple as I wanted it to appear more like an amythyst.  

And Who are You?

I  love the scene in Alice in Wonderland where the caterpillar asks Alice “Who are You?”

This can be a simple question, and it can be the most difficult thing to know.  Context is everything.  To my  children, I am Mommy, yet at the same time I am a daughter. To many I am Rennata, to others, Mrs. Tropeano.

I am Mira. Mira being short for Mirarose, the name of my character in World of Warcraft.  A whole different group of people know me a Mira Caerndow, as that is the name I use in the virtual reality world of second life.

Today’s social media adds a whole new level to the question, I am also arteveryday, kangamom and a few other names that I use in various social media.

All of these do not answer the question though, they are really just names. I can answer the question in terms of the various jobs I do. Mother, wife, Artist, Manager, Secretary.  This website is to help you understand me and who I am as an artist, and to be a central location(or the wordpress mirror) for all my activities on the web.

Welcome to my little corner of the web.

Rennata