Roadside Crosses...

...is a fabulous book by American author Jeffrey Deaver.  And now, it's the name of something completely different.

' Roadside Crosses:  She Inhaled It Much Too Quickly '
Mixed Media Collaged Head
16 x 16 x13"  © Win Dinn, Artist     2014

This elegant self portrait (can you hear me giggling?) was originally conceived in the brain of Andrea Revoy, the organizer for the art portion of WineArt here in Creston.  She thought it would be fun to have a group of artists (15 in total) create their version of a head, to be auctioned at Wine Art on Friday, May 30/14.  All proceeds from the auction of the heads support Rotary causes.  Being the adventurous (AKA crazy) sort, I jumped at the chance to play.

Book shock was the initial conception, so I started by collaging some disused law book sheets onto the head, knowing the appropriate book would present itself when required.  A trip to Gleaners scored a copy of Jeffrey Deaver's Roadside Crosses - I knew this book, I loved this book, BIG SCORE.  Synchronicity was well in motion given the protagonist, Kathryn Dance, is an agent working for the CBI.

For some obscure reason I thought it would be fun to create curls of hair from painted dryer sheets secured to book sheets, torn into strips, and curled around a wooden skewer - can you imagine anything more entertaining?  You can see here what she thought of it!

The next stage was to poke a wire into the head for each curl, and secure them with gel medium.  Now you know why I've been so stuck up for the past weeks.

Once all the curls had been added, she became known affectionately as Hairy Head (HH), and was definitely needing some facial features.  Here she's test driving an old pair of glasses, facial features in progress, and starting to look a bit shocky, with her headband pieces flapping in the breeze.

With the addition of her own book sheet glasses, eyelashes and facial detailing, she's starting to gain some character - in more ways than one.  

With headband nailed down and flower attached she's nearly complete.

The addition of the distressed Roadside Crosses novel, and the permission of . . . well, DRAT - I'd forgotten to get permission to use this book!.  I fired off an email to Jeffrey Deaver, explaining the concept, auction sale and timing issues.  He very kindly emailed me with his permission within hours.  Now that's how to take care of your fans!  Thank you, Jeffrey.  

Some closeups:

I'm glad she's done, she's glad to be done, and you can see more of her (and bid on her too) at Wine Art. Various entries in the Head Project will be on display during Arts and Culture Week this month - so keep your eyes peeled.  And I'm most grateful to Jeffrey Deaver, responder extraordinaire, for his permission to use his book in such an outlandish way; thank you once again!