RHS01
©2009-2010 Craig Ashby
5” x 6”
Collage

This is the first piece in the RHS Series. RHS stands for Restless Hand Syndrome. A jokey play on words but in reality something I have dealt with for a while.

Let me explain. This series was a release of steam during the PR-RAW series. I would spend all night cutting and then gluing down a layer but my hands and mind were restless. So I would take the scraps and fashion these simple placemats.

I call them placemats because it all started in elementary school. The teacher would provide strips of colored construction paper and you would weave a placemat. A simple task that has scarred my mind.

How I have mixed it up here is by using magazine leftovers from the PR-RAW series. Then I cut them with one of those decorative edge scissors that were all the rage with crafters.

I should say here that the one I have is horrible and tears more than cuts. Then I weave the two images together and finish the whole thing with a layer of Modge Podge. What a name.

This first piece is of Naomi Campbell showing you where that horrible Destiny’s Child singer really comes from. Models are better than Top 40 pop stars. But then what isn’t?

Today’s addition: I actually am wondering if this is Beyoncé. I should also mention that I liked her last album for the sake of honesty.

The only part of this equation I should explain is the finish. When I was storing the series I individually wrapped each one in plastic wrap. This caused all that crazy fracturing in the Modge Podge.

Each wrinkle in the plastic wrap eventually made it’s way into the Modge Podge surface. A surface which was pristine before the application of the plastic wrap. It made me a bit sad but then I have learned to accept things like this and move on.

I now kind of love it and should try to incorporate this idea into the new NO Series that is going on. I will have to see where and when it will fit in.