1. Artists create original art.
My dad is an engineer for Caterpillar and when I was younger I always thought it was funny that the huge dirt-moving equipment the company produces is named after such a small creature. So I guess my original idea came from then and I wanted to add on to it and make it come to life.
I decided that combining the two very different objects would be a fun way to depict appropriation. As I brainstormed how to do this, I came up with idea of making the caterpillar itself into the machine. It would be painted Caterpillar yellow and out fitted similarly to how a machine would be. I wanted to put the caterpillar on tracks and to add a bulldozer-like attachment to the front of it. I decided to use a track type tractor as my model. I then planned to put the caterpillar to work - operating as a machine would, except on a much smaller level. Instead of moving trees and logs the caterpillar will be moving blades of grass.
2. Artists take risks.
When I originally started brainstorming for this project I planned to simply paint the scene on a canvas. However, as my idea evolved, I decided that I wanted to make the caterpillar more 3-D. So I am going to attach a foam sphere as the final body segment for the caterpillar, which will attach to the canvas. Also, I am going to fashion the attachment for the caterpillar out of metal and figure out a way to make 3-D tracks. I'm not experienced with mixed media, so figuring out how to make everything look proportional as well as how to affix the materials to the canvas will be a new experience.
3. Artists reflect.
After I worked on figuring out the shading, I also added the tracks and front attachment the caterpillar to get a better idea of what that would look like.