{"id":559,"date":"2016-01-12T21:14:55","date_gmt":"2016-01-12T21:14:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wolfcatworkshop.com\/?p=559"},"modified":"2016-03-03T21:13:35","modified_gmt":"2016-03-03T21:13:35","slug":"the-forest","status":"publish","type":"jetpack-portfolio","link":"http:\/\/wolfcatworkshop.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/portfolio\/the-forest\/","title":{"rendered":"the forest"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The forest is the first piece in this series. I was considering calling it the &#8220;pull string cat&#8221;. The idea is to place this same character in different contexts and every time another character pulls a string on the cat he or she responds accordingly. The idea came from reading this Zen master story:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>There was a person coming to a new village, relocating, and he was wondering if he would like it there, so he went to the zen master and asked: do you think I will like it in this village? Are the people nice?<\/p>\n<p>The master asked back: How were the people on the town where you come from? \u201cThey were nasty and greedy, they were angry and lived for cheating and stealing,\u201d said the newcomer.<\/p>\n<p>Those are exactly the type of people we have in this village, said the master.<br \/>\nAnother newcomer to the village visited the master and asked the same question, to which the master asked: How were the people in the town where you come from? \u201cThey were sweet and lived in harmony, they cared for one another and for the land, they respected each other and they were seekers of spirit,\u201d he replied.<\/p>\n<p>Those are exactly the type of people we have in this village, said the master.<\/p>\n<p>-as told by <a href=\"http:\/\/thoughtcatalog.com\/claudia-azula-altucher\/2013\/04\/8-zen-master-stories-that-illustrate-important-truths\/\">Claudia Altucher<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>My process for this kind of piece starts with a hand-drawn sketch that I scan and trace using a vector drawing software like Illustrator or<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_560\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-560\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wolfcatworkshop.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/redcat4.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-560\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-560 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wolfcatworkshop.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/redcat4.jpg?resize=300%2C300\" alt=\"drawing the trees with a quill\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wolfcatworkshop.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/redcat4.jpg?resize=300%2C300 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wolfcatworkshop.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/redcat4.jpg?resize=100%2C100 100w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wolfcatworkshop.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/redcat4.jpg?resize=1024%2C1024 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wolfcatworkshop.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/redcat4.jpg?resize=88%2C88 88w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wolfcatworkshop.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/redcat4.jpg?resize=973%2C973 973w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wolfcatworkshop.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/redcat4.jpg?resize=508%2C508 508w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wolfcatworkshop.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/redcat4.jpg?w=1080 1080w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-560\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">drawing the trees with a quill pen<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Inkscape. I often leave the vectors unedited because I want that hand-drawn feeling. Then I use a desktop CNC to carve out the pockets and outlines. I do find it funny that I want the hand-drawn feeling and yet I use a machine to do the carving.<\/p>\n<p>In this case the CNC lifted some of the veneer leaving those darker streaks but I thought it was a happy accident. I roughly sketched the trees and started drawing them with a quill pen and acrylic ink. The quill works surprisingly well on wood. I mixed white ink and black ink as i went along to create the receding effect.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_562\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-562\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wolfcatworkshop.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/redcat2.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-562\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-562 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wolfcatworkshop.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/redcat2.jpg?resize=300%2C300\" alt=\"accent color on the 1\/8&quot; groove \" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wolfcatworkshop.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/redcat2.jpg?resize=300%2C300 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wolfcatworkshop.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/redcat2.jpg?resize=100%2C100 100w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wolfcatworkshop.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/redcat2.jpg?resize=1024%2C1024 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wolfcatworkshop.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/redcat2.jpg?resize=88%2C88 88w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wolfcatworkshop.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/redcat2.jpg?resize=973%2C973 973w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wolfcatworkshop.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/redcat2.jpg?resize=508%2C508 508w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wolfcatworkshop.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/redcat2.jpg?w=1080 1080w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-562\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">accent color on the 1\/8&#8243; groove<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The pockets for the side panels were filled with white gesso. I was going to paint the frame entirely black as I&#8217;ve done with other similar pieces but this time I wanted the wood grain to be more visible to I stained it with black gesso diluted with water. The outline was colored with pencils. Using a 1\/8&#8243; bit on the CNC creates a rather neat groove for that.<\/p>\n<p>The little side pictures are inspired both by comic books -where the panels tell part of the story- and the paintings of <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Friedensreich_Hundertwasser\">Hundertwasser<\/a>. He often used black frames and added little details to his paintings that make your gaze go around the image.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wolfcatworkshop.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/theforestfinal.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-648\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-648 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wolfcatworkshop.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/theforestfinal.jpg?resize=600%2C599\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"599\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wolfcatworkshop.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/theforestfinal.jpg?w=600 600w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wolfcatworkshop.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/theforestfinal.jpg?resize=100%2C100 100w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wolfcatworkshop.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/theforestfinal.jpg?resize=301%2C300 301w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wolfcatworkshop.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/theforestfinal.jpg?resize=88%2C88 88w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wolfcatworkshop.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/theforestfinal.jpg?resize=508%2C507 508w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>This piece is 7&#8243;x7&#8243; and it was painted on 3\/4&#8243; birch plywood. Mix media (acrylic inks, gesso and colored pencils).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The forest is the first piece in this series. I was considering calling it the &#8220;pull string cat&#8221;. The idea is to place this same character in different contexts and every time another character pulls a string on the cat he or she responds accordingly. The idea came from reading this Zen master story: There [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":648,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","format":"gallery","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":[]},"jetpack-portfolio-type":[],"jetpack-portfolio-tag":[46],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/wolfcatworkshop.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/jetpack-portfolio\/559"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/wolfcatworkshop.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/jetpack-portfolio"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/wolfcatworkshop.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/jetpack-portfolio"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wolfcatworkshop.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wolfcatworkshop.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=559"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"http:\/\/wolfcatworkshop.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/jetpack-portfolio\/559\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":676,"href":"http:\/\/wolfcatworkshop.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/jetpack-portfolio\/559\/revisions\/676"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wolfcatworkshop.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/648"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/wolfcatworkshop.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=559"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"jetpack-portfolio-type","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wolfcatworkshop.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/jetpack-portfolio-type?post=559"},{"taxonomy":"jetpack-portfolio-tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wolfcatworkshop.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/jetpack-portfolio-tag?post=559"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}