Journey - Finnabair DT

Good evening! A few days ago my first post in Finnabair's blog went live (eek!). For my first project I created this altered guitar. It's actually one of those that I have had in my mind for quite some time and when I heard the lucky news of me getting to this new DT, I knew that this one had to be my first project.

The story behind the creation is a bit of a mingle, but let me try to take you inside my head for a second. Not so long ago I did a canvas inspired by a Finnish metal band called Turisas. Even earlier this year I had got to know the singer of another Finnish metal band, Thaurorod. When he saw the Turisas piece and we got talking, I promised to make something inspired by Thaurorod, too. I started to listen to the songs differently after that promise and not long afterwards I had chosen piece called "Overboard" for my source of inspiration.

The lyrics talk about stormy seas, unknown waters and sailing to distant horizons. Of course there's a deeper meaning to the words, but the storming sea and sailboats had already set my ideas flying. The perfect base for this music inspired creation just fell into my hands. My husband builds his own guitars and he received an old one to be used as parts for the new creations. As he had stripped the guitar from everything he needed, including the neck, he then asked if I wanted the body. As it was wooden, heavy one, I immediately saw it as a base for a mixed media creation and the whole project started to take shape in my head.

My vision was to create a stormy sea with a sailboat in full canvas trying to navigate to the home shores. I also wanted the piece to have textures so I had the idea of building some parts of the foaming waters out of ephemera. You can see them as waves or even shoal hiding under the surface, threatening the tall ship sailing forward. 

I recorded a video while working with the piece, but edited it in the form of a step-by-step project rather than a complete from start to finish video as the project took me two days to make. You will see me using 3D Gel as an adhesive or Modeling Paste to create the waves. Art Ingredients like Glitter, Mica Flakes and Art Sugar also added some really special accents. And can you also spot two stencils?

I'm also happy to tell you that this piece is going to be hung in the studio of Andi, Thaurorod singer. I promised to give it to him the next time he visits Helsinki. For the time being it's occupying the top of my table. I've been thinking of giving away some of my other canvases, too, as they take quite a lot of room in our apartment. I still haven't thought how to go on with this so if you have any suggestions, please share them! 

Thank you for stopping by today! If you wish to hear the piece of music that inspired me, here's a link to the official video! I hope this project inspires you to try out the new Finnabair mediums and see what they can be used for! Push the limits and be a little mad professor mixing them and experimenting with the results. Hoist the sails and sail on!

Products used in this piece: