A Flash of Fiction

I had a fun little experience with words the other evening, and the result turned into 'Flash Fiction'. Flash Fiction is just what it sounds like, but for most writers it's more complicated than it seems because the entire story has to be word-painted in a very small space. The fun thing about it is that the limited space forces some of the traditional story elements to get pushed aside - unwritten. Those elements must then be insinuated or implied within the written storyline, and the ending is often open or questioning, leaving individual readers to create different interpretations.
 I didn't set out to write at all that night, especially not knowing much about Flash Fiction. My goal was to fill a need for written words to add to a visual collage. It didn't really matter what the words meant as I didn't think they'd be read-able in the art anyway. Because I'd removed all restrictions it seems that creativity flowed, and before I knew it I'd written a little 'something'. I never did add written words to that collage project, but in the next few days I did move with a succession of creative ideas and art related problem solving, so I can't help but feel that I patted the Muse's back by letting the writing out and She patted mine by zooping up my projects with fresh energy.

Read my mysterious Flash Fiction foray titled, What Now. 


*Original art images ©Tree Pruitt T. E. Pruitt, unless otherwise indicated. Contact the artist prior to ANY use please.

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Rusty the Cycloptic Rabbit Minimalist Assemblage Sculpture

Ah the inspiration of Spring! With the melting of the snow, and Easter just a hop around the corner, I was inspired to create an assemblage sculpture bunny that's turned out rather Minimalist in style. Being comprised of found objects ol' Rusty here nearly made himself! I found a bit of rusted and twisted metal that had been flattened in the road by a huge bulldozer and couldn't help but notice that it looked like a rabbit, thus Rusty the Cycloptic Rabbit was born! I scrubbed him down with rubbing alcohol and a wire brush to clean him up a bit -- cleaning rust sounds crazy, I know, but with all the rust he WAS a bit of a flake. Then I hand cut a groove into a cylinder of wood so that the metal fit snugly and glued the parts together with a strong adhesive.

The base is an object I wish I hadn't found, but is an example of making the best of a situation. That very same huge bulldozer at one point had shaken my house with such a boom as to cause a glass shelf to bounce out of its holding mount and crash to the floor! No worries (once the cursing faded) because destruction facilitates creation and I was hoppy to have the glass shards to add to my creation.

 Though I encourage textural art work to be touched this is a piece of art to be explored with care because this bunny can bite with some sharp edges! I like the broken edges of the glass showing because the green color reminds me of grass. The wood body piece attaches to the glass base with a clear silicone adhesive. Quality rubber bumpers act as feet for the sculpture to both lift it and protect display surfaces.

"Rusty the Cycloptic Rabbit Minimalist Assemblage Sculpture", by Tree Pruitt (T. E. Pruitt)

*Original art images ©Tree Pruitt T. E. Pruitt, unless otherwise indicated. Contact the artist prior to ANY use please.

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Cradled Birch Painting Panel

An old favorite paint brush sits ready to gesso a birch panel.

I began a new journey with an old friend tonight by pulling out a favorite paint brush to get started working on my first cradled birch panel. I've painted on birch in the past and really enjoyed the surface, but the cradled panels sturdiness is an exciting new experience! The brush I used is from Baker's Secret and was actually intended for basting food, but I discovered that it held other secrets! I've been using it since it was new for water media so much that the handle has developed patina over the years. The bristles are similar to hog bristle but offer a smoother toothy texture in base coats.

 I began with the panel right from the package. Without sanding I brushed a thin smooth coat of acrylic gesso over the top and sides of the panel, following the wood grain. As much as I want to do this painting it was a tough choice to cover that lovely even birch grain! There are so very many things that could be done with these boards, and I'm looking forward to using pyrography in a future project! The gesso sucked into the raw wood and dried quickly. The second layer that I applied was lain thicker and with random brush strokes to create texture. Once that dried I pulled out a jar of old white acrylic paint. Being towards the bottom of the jar the paint has thickened to a tacky paste that, when applied, brushes further texture out onto the surface. When that dried I was left with a wonderful mildly slick bright surface begging to be marked... I WAS left with it, but that quickly changed as color found its way onto my brush and painting has now begun in earnest!


*Original art images ©Tree Pruitt T. E. Pruitt, unless otherwise indicated. Contact the artist prior to ANY use please.

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Old Soldier Assemblage Sculpture

"...an old soldier who tried to do his duty as God gave him the light to see that duty."
The last soldiers of the First World War have left us now. The 100th anniversary of the outbreak of that war will be in August this year, and with that in mind a few recent finds called my imagination to create assemblage art. A modern television set color cap became a helmet, an old light bulb fixture from a now demolished building became the form of a soldier, his eyes staring with dazed rings created from antique Parcheesi game pieces -- glue and etched markings on the light bulb glass resemble gently falling tears. With a plastic toy gun the soldier stands at the ready in a field of daisy like upholstery tacks which, though surrounded by fencing made of metal nails representing the dangers of barbed wire in the field, has not yet turned to become the life sucking mud of the First World War trenches. There is hope. He will fight. He will win the battles that life sets before him and thus always remain a soldier.

 Though from a different war, the light bulb and theme of a soldier then called to my mind a famous phrase used by General Douglas McArthur in his farewell speech, "old soldiers never die". Around the wood base of the assemblage sculpture are those words pieced together from magazine cut-out letters pasted into place.

"I am closing my 52 years of military service. When I joined the Army, even before the turn of the century, it was the fulfillment of all of my boyish hopes and dreams. The world has turned over many times since I took the oath on the plain at West Point, and the hopes and dreams have long since vanished, but I still remember the refrain of one of the most popular barrack ballads of that day which proclaimed most proudly that "old soldiers never die; they just fade away."

 And like the old soldier of that ballad, I now close my military career and just fade away, an old soldier who tried to do his duty as God gave him the light to see that duty."

-- General Douglas McArthur in his farewell speech to Congress

►First World War Centenary http://www.1914.org/why_remember/

►Check availability of this artwork by clicking HERE.


*Original art images ©Tree Pruitt T. E. Pruitt, unless otherwise indicated. Contact the artist prior to ANY use please.

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