It's Been TOO Long

Hello hello! It has been too long sense I've last written on this thing. I guess I will fill you guys in on whats been going on the last month or two...

I have started working with a theme in a few of my classes, basically it's

HUNTING AND BABES

 .....or the more politically correct title; The culture of women and hunting.
I started by looking into hunting culture in Africa, which mainly consists of higher-class Caucasian couples looking for a good sport. Hunting is no longer about survival, it's for fun and a good way to shoot the shit when your bored.

TEAMWORK

Then I went back to my ole' roots in Tennessee. I guess it is bias for me to say hunting in the south is for rednecks...but I think that statement is 80% accurate. A lot of hunting in the south is greatly based on family tradition.

"My great grand papi went huntin', my grand papi went huntin', and dad went huntin', so I sure as hell am going huntin' too."

It based down from generation to generation and is used as a method o bonding; usually between father and son. So it was very strange to me when I saw pictures of a father and his wife/daughter hunting side by side. Why is it so weird to see a little girl or woman hold a gun?

I started looking at artwork by Walton Ford and James Audubon.
Ford is a contemporary artist who creates large scale watercolor paintings or animals. His style resembles Audubon's classical 19th century painterly hand. Ford depicts animals in a very scientifically and formal way, using text in the corner to resemble notes and a journal entry. However, the actions of the animals and context are very grotesque and brutal. There are mainly paintings of sexual dominance between animals. The theme of bondage and old colonial traps are painted too. Many of Ford's paintings are in a sense critiques of Audubon's paintings.
Audubon was a notorious explorer and painter known for his naturalist paintings of birds and animals. However, Audubon killed more animals then he painted while on his escapades of the Western world. So to some extent, they are faked and posed images of animals that were more then likely shot by Audubon.

Walton Ford

James Audubon

So for my final project this is my area of focus. I am working from these pictures of hanging dead animals after they have been hunted. I want to the hanging animals to represent a clothes line or charms on a charm bracelet.

What I have so far....