Tangled Rock Goddess Series

“A woman is the full circle. Within her is the power to create, nurture and transform.” — Diane Mariechild​

Since Dolores became well loved by my followers, I decided to create a Mannequin torso series. All of them inspired by my favorite female rock stars. Each piece took about 3 weeks to create. That’s with working a daytime job and being snowed most of the time during this dreadful Buffalo winter. As I began this series, I had no idea how much of impact it would have on me personally and how it would affect those around me.  After 4 mannequins, I can see my own growth. Each piece taught me so much about life, patience, and how to push myself further creatively.

Shirley (Blue), inspired by Shirley Manson, had the most unexpected turn out.  I referred to her as “The Queen of Happy Mistakes”. Happy Mistakes was a phase I learned from my first year in art school at Sage College in Albany. My 2 Dimensional Design instructor, who reminded me a lot of Bob Ross, always taught us that there were no mistakes in art.  These mistakes just push us to be more creative and to think more outside of the box.  Just like in life, everything happens for a reason, this happens in art as well. In the end, you have two choices: you can say fuck it and walk away or you can work with it and see what happens.

While bringing Shirley to life, she experienced a few paint chips and a leaky pen mishap.  I would spend hours on a section and all of a sudden it becomes ruined. I remember one night after spending 2 hours transferring the mandala on to her lower abdomen, 2 giant chucks of blue paint peeled off. My first thought was that the original vision I had for her has gone. It wasn’t like I could spray paint that area again or maybe I could but I was too afraid to try. Instead of getting upset, I hung her up in the middle of my living room and walked away. The following day, I picked up my pens and started again. As I found ways around my first mistake, my pen exploded. Once again, I had to hang her up and walk away. Walking away helped with the frustration and cleared my mind to reflect on how to fix these mishaps. After some time off, I was able to come back and finish bringing her back to life. My design choices completely covered up her flaws. Even though I know these mistakes as still there, she still presents herself as nothing ever happened.  

After Shirley, came Patti (Red), who was inspired by the Amazing Patti Smith. She came to life the quickest out of all them. I spent about 2 weeks on her. Patti has less details and survived one minor mishap. She came together very smoothly without much preplanning. Patti was created during a time when I started my new current job. My mind was more focused on financially stabilizing myself opposed to exploring creative new designs.  I would come home, set her in my lap, and just tangle away to free my mind.  She was my stress reliever project from the new changes.

Alison (Green), inspired by Alison Mosshart, was my baby. I really wanted to take some time and create as much detail on her as much I could.   My personal life began to flourish once again and I was able concentrate more on the details I wanted to create. It took me forever and Facebook poll to decide on just the color alone. Green was perfect because spring was approaching and represents growth. From Dolores to Alison, I can definitely see the progression. Alison had an unexpected turn out as well. But my mistakes were more manageable and required less repair.

There will be more Tangled Rock Goddesses to come. I have some many projects going on and so little time to create everything I envision. I like to take a break in between projects to recharge.  There will be a future Art Show in the fall that will be focused on these pieces. Please stay tune for future updates.