the bottle

For this assignment, we have been asked to think back on our lives to a moment that was life-changing.

October 7, 2003 while stopped at a traffic signal at the intersection of Peasley Canyon Road and West Valley Highway, I was rear-ended by a fully loaded semi-truck.

Severe pain, loss of feeling in my arms, hands and fingers, loss of strength, inability to turn my head and a significant wrongness in my balance led to the performance of several MRI’s. The results showed that I had multiple discs in my neck vertebrate that had been ruptured both front and back. I was told that I would need to have a cervical fusion or risk permanent damage including the possibility of paralysis.

I was also told that post-surgery I would not be able to hold/lift anything over one pound for several weeks and that it would be close to six months before I would be able to lift 10 pounds. Additionally, I was told that the heavy narcotics that I would be on for several months following the surgery would make my breast milk dangerous to my nine-month-old baby.

Though Sarah was 9lbs. 7oz when she was born, this was due to height, not chubbiness. She was 110% height, but only 30% weight. Faced with the idea that I would not be able to hold my baby for several months if I had the surgery and the knowledge that Sarah’s stomach was intolerant of most foods and formulas, which caused projectile vomiting and weight loss for an already underweight baby, I choose to continue breast feeding my baby, which meant no surgery and incredible pain. I faced this decision two more times over the next year and a half.

Each time I had gotten Sarah down to one nursing session per day and she came down with the flu severely enough that she was almost hospitalized due to weight loss. Nursing during her sleep with anti-nausea prescriptions became her only source of sustenance again. Each time I again choose Sarah’s needs over mine.

If the same situation had occurred and I had not needed to make a decision between my baby’s needs and mine, I would have had the surgery immediately and though it still would have changed my life, it would not have been to the same degree and would not have had the same importance.

The crucial element in this was Sarah’s need for nourishment.

In recognition of this, I constructed a bottle (a symbol of nourishment) from a copy of one of my surgical x-rays (a symbol of my pain).

Playtex bottles have been around for years and are readily recognizable as a preferred choice among mothers for breast milk feeding when someone else does the feeding. For this reason, I selected a Playtex bottle as my model. While I had planned to bond the x-ray to the body of the bottle itself, I found that the bottles have changed some and now have colorful cartoon animals around the bottle. As this would interfere with the clarity of the x-ray image, I decided to construct a new body for the bottle. To do this, the top and bottom rims were cut off from the body of the bottle. I then glued a heaviest--still pliable Plexiglas that I could find to the top and bottom rims of the original bottle. This was a lot harder than it sounds. The material kept wanting to spring back off of the rims. Unfortunately, the artist glue did not work. I ended up using Gorilla superglue. Though I worked as quickly as I could, by the time I was able to get bands around the piece to hold it while it cured, I ended up with a lot of glue on my hands and spent quite a bit of time trying to remove the glue with sand paper.

After the glue of the new body had finished curing and the bands were removed, I glued the image to the body. After that had cured, I glued a clear transparency over the image to create a smooth feeling reminiscent of the original plastic bottle.

Here is the completed bottle. The image that is bonded to the Plexiglas was taken during the fusion surgery. You can see my cervical spine in the x-ray. The piece that looks something like a two piece fork is the surgical tool that is holding my neck and muscles apart for the neurosurgeon to work. The dark, bold, horizontal line is a titanium plate. The horizontal lines with ridges are titanium screws that are holding the plate firmly against my spine. Between the screws are donor bones. The entire structure fuses together over time forming one bone. Though I had organ donor added to my first driver's license, I am still amazed that I have someone else's bones in my body. What an incredible gift.

Hoping to draw the audience to Sarah, I included photos of her and a scholastic achievement letter in recognition of Sarah's most recent accomplishment. These items were rolled up and put into the open bottle in the hopes that people would interact with them.

To maintain the continuity of the piece, the photos and scholastic achievement letter were copied on to transparencies.

Although the image above does allow us to see that the photos and document are on transparencies, it is subtle. The plaid fabric being used as a background in the image below really depicts this.

While each of these photos is a favorite, they were carefully chosen. This newborn picture having Sarah's initial weight quickly brings to light the conflict between the neurosurgeon telling me that a fusion surgery is necessary and that I would not be able to hold even a pound for several months post-op.

This photo was taken just a few weeks before the accident.

This represents a very poignant day in Sarah's life. I think that this was the first day that Sarah realized that her sister (12 years older) would not always be home. It was a very touching evening as her sister left with her date for prom. I had never seen such complete sadness on Sarah's face before. She was devastated. For the next several hours, I pampered Sarah for her own "prom date" with me. I fixed her hair the same way that I had fixed her sister's, down to using a remnant of the same ribbon that I had put in Sister's hair. This was of course followed by a photo session just like Sister had. Then I took Sarah out for a formal dinner. It was a wonderful night.

The letter below shows that Sarah made it through the first round of testing for the Highly Capable program. As this was only a few weeks ago it is a wonderful commemoration of her scholastic achievement. We will have the results back from the second test in April.

This piece is in Sarah's room now. It has a very special meaning to her as she does to me.

She is an absolute wonder

An incredible joy in my life

Every moment of pain that I faced for her

Was a moment well spent

additive

These pieces are additive only. I cannot try to "correct" through erasing or removing material in any way. For this purpose, I am using a conti crayon, charcoal and pastels. No pencil. At first I found this a daunting task. It was frustrating. I wanted to fix my errors. At the end of the first day, I asked myself why I was doing it. The honest answer is that my professor recommended it. I think he knew it would challenge my sense of orderliness, and in the long run, be more satisfying.

Day one...

I have no idea what to draw. I am just putting color on paper. Though I finished unhappy with the product, I do like the colors.

Day two...

Yesterday's piece left me frustrated and disheartened. Today I decided to use the same color schema and shapes, but see if I can come up with something I like better. I began with bold strokes of the rust. Curving lines with no thickness until I had four of them. I looked at it and thought of flames. After thickening the flames,  I began adding in the other colors/shapes. I am not sure what I think of this piece.

Day three...

This frog has error after error, yet I find it very satisfying.

Day four...

I am part Cherokee and have been thinking about my heritage. Along with that, I have been wondering what my great-great granny looked like. She was full Cherokee and I have been told that she had long raven-black hair that went past her waist. That is all I know. There are not any pictures of her. She may not look anything like this, but this is how I imagine her... with grey added to her hair since I was told that she died in old age.

Day five...

I really like the way this turned out. Like the picture above, it changed remarkably with each new layer that I added. With both of these pieces, I was not seeing errors as errors, but leaping forward to add more and more. Both pieces were very exciting to work on. My favorite part of this series is the dark portion of the vase where you can see the slight heaviness of the flower's stem through the many, many colors of curving blue.

hands of praise

Hands have the ability to convey a message without words...  

even without motion.

What do my hands convey about me? 

What message do I want them to send?

 If I am limited to one, 

 it is this:

Serve the Lord.

thyme with sarah

Gathering

Holly Berries

 

Black Mondo Grass Berries

 

Purple Heather

Beautiful Moss

 

 

The Fruit of our Labor

To the Press (a garlic press)

The moss was very disappointing. Even after sitting for several days, it did not create a useable color.

The holly berries were wonderful and horrid. I had at first been hoping to create a beautiful red... but as the old saying goes, "it's what's on the inside that counts." The inside of the holly berry is a tarnished yellow. With the failure of the moss, this resulted in a wonderful alternative for the vines. The small drawback... it smelled horrid.

 

These are the modo grass berries. This is by far my favorite of the colors that were created: an ashen-eggplant.

Here are several of the pigments steeping in their containers.

The Palette

The Verses

The First Words

Adding in Some Detail

Like Mother Like Daughter, Sarah wants to paint too!

Our Finished Pieces

sarah

How do you create the perfect portrait? Striking the right pose, lighting, attire and hair can be a challenge. My youngest daughter and I spent a day trying to achieve a perfect balance. Shooting close to 200 pictures over the course of the day in different settings, these portraits represent our favorites and quite a learning experience.

This first picture gets its rating in our favorites due to pose and expression. While the entertainment center is a nice piece of furniture, it does not really work as a background in this case.

So many pictures have been taken in front of the eggplant velvet drapes. I like the lines of Sarah's body with the drapes, but was sorely disappointed that across all of the shots, the drapes either had breaks in them (my fault), or the pose or quality of photo was not good. It is a good reminder to failures.

The next three shots are all utilize an antique piano as the background. It is very satisfying and beautiful. The old-fashioned hair-do and simple black velvet dress both go well with the setting. The only drawback to this beautiful portrait is the piano music book in the lower right-hand corner. The same issue is found in another picture. Sarah and I really like those two the best.  

Keeping in mind the era of the piano, I cropped both images to create a tighter look, which is more reminiscent of portraits from the 1800's, the era of the piano. The two pictures below are the result. I had hoped to present them side-by-side and placed them in the post that way--however, when I view the post, the images display one above the other.