Noni Tree - Process Pictures, from Start to Finish?

 

Idea! & Gathering materials to work with.

When I read the assignment description from Andy that said this was a self portrait, the idea of balance and womanhood, family and strength all sort of immediately formed to this rough image I sketched out on the nearest tablet. The lotus base and the tree felt like a natural fit. I had never tried to build like this before, so it was pretty exciting to watch my idea take shape in this pliable medium. Who knew masking tape and cardboard would be so fun to work with? Well, now I know, too. 

It was important to me to treat this self portrait with honesty and care. I wanted to celebrate my form, strength and sense of worth in this object. I created paper templates to build my feminine shapes that are intended to be curvy and sexy, while also being sturdy, strongly rooted and maternal.

Building up some shape included layering taped cardboard and bending and tooling the taped cardboard to encourage the curvy shapes of the trunk to be visible.

While there is definitely a "front" to this object, I wanted detail all the way around. As I added vine "hair", a family group of Western Pond Turtles, a squirrel (dealing with one nut at a time), a nest with a single egg, a curvy booty in the "back" and a swing in my branches, it really took shape and felt right to build and share.

I have a few more details to add with the vine "hair' down the backside and some extra tape to wrap on to add support but I feel pretty happy with where this has gone. 

As I begin to work on the outer limb, I wanted some sort of net texture to work with to get the feel I wanted. My partner suggested punching some holes in folded tape and it was exactly what I needed. Leaving the holes attached and folded out provide some pretty cool, organic texture to work with.

Be the squirrel. Deal with one nut at a time. 

OK. I think this is where I want it to be. I will try to get some better pictures to share tomorrow.