James' art process

 

I decided I did not want to use paper sometime at the end of last year. I started working on discarded clay molds, metal nails, string, anything that was lying around. That was another thing. But, that led into this year, as I liked the three dimensional work, it was a new thing, so I decided to do something this year. I found an pure white bust of the Buddha, for those of you who do not know who that is, I am not going to explain it. I knew I wanted to do something to it, the whiteness, the shape, the expression, just was awesome, but it needed to be added to, built upon. 

The white was too clean. Nothing in the real world is really white. It may be off white, or grey, or some type of eggshell yellow, but not pure blinding white. What I did was take a nice green, and use that as a coat for the skin, to bring in the aspect of nature to the piece, and as another point to how the Buddha gained enlightenment underneath the leaves of the Bodhi tree, another reference to the green.

Tattoos were originally and in many cases still symbols of status, achievements, and spirituality in different cultures. I wanted to take this bust and do something along those lines, take an icon and add a new dimension, so I looked around at Maori facial tattoos to begin with, and am still inking the finer details. 

Not sure what I am going to do with the hair color, though I do want to highlight the patterns in the hair.