Virtue.... a finished WIP

I'm still in my jammies as I have been working on this and getting the photos and entry done, whew! I can go on vacation with peace of mind now. At 32 inches tall, she is the tallest/largest sculpt I've done to date. She is made from a total of 5 gourds, one for the body and two for each of the arms. No baby though. I had to remove the baby as it was looking more like a cocoon from outer space than a child, even a folk art one...lol. This is a bit different than I had planned for her dress as well, but sometimes things change as we go along. Now, to wait and see if I've been accepted.

Here's a closer look at her base. I tried to achieve a turquoise stone look to the panels on her dress. I hope that will show up in person. Photos are hard to take here.

Another one of my entries for the Wallowa Valley Festival of Arts. A mixed media abstract.

I know I've shared this before as well, but here's "Who's Chicken?" again. Now the waiting begins. Will I be accepted? I hope so as I'm supposed to demo my sculpting and I usually volunteer to help. I do enjoy this show, but will be looking for others to enter as well. They are great experiences and you can get good feedback on where you need to improve. If you haven't entered a juried show before I urge you to give it a try. You never know!

Large Gourd WIP continues She has hair!

 I finally got to the first layer of her hair yesterday and then had her baking in the warm car for most of the day. I added more bulk to her hair and have now stuck her head in the oven to dry. That can be a tricky thing, as she is very large, but it's working.

I'm still thinking she needs a tad more height to her hair to give her a balanced look. What do you think? I need to finish the sculpting and get her drying today as I have two days to sand and paint her. What do you think so far?

Manfred the Moon and Stars....

Manfred the Moon and Stars, is busy shining to win your heart. He's starry and bright, and loves the night. Won't you take a look and see if I'm right?  EBAY

Gourd Art doll WIP continues....

 I've been working away on this piece today so I'm getting much closer to having her ready to paint. I know, it doesn't appear that way, but trust me, there's more painting than sculpting in the future for her.

A bit rough here and there, and yes, she will have hair...lol. It helps to let each step dry a bit. So I'm off to prep dinner to take to hubby; he has a soccer game to supervise. I do need a break and then back at it. I have one week left to finish this...think I can do it?

A Santa a week....

A Santa a week keeps the blues away..... Well okay maybe that's a stretch, but you know, you can't have too many Santa figures in your collection can you? I think not! So, I'm on a mission to list a new Santa each week to entice you to add to that collection of handsome and jolly fellows. This gourd Santa is 13 inches tall and I've signed and dated him. True confession, I have a sweet buyer who has been so patient with me, and she knows who I'm talking about.... Somehow I let two pieces she's purchased get out the door without a signature on them, ugh! I will make it up to her though as she hasn't put up a fuss and deserves better. I promise this fella is signed though as I made sure before I listed him....lol.

So, if you are interested this handsome gentleman is listed here: ETSY

Mother and child WIP continues...

 I have a head now, yay! Not perfect yet, but on the way. I've discovered that the fore arms will have to be made of something other than gourds, they weren't working out, but hey, that's what the creative process involves, learning and changing an approach.

No, my house doesn't have stuff laying all over, the soup can props her body so she can dry over the air vent. See how big she is? I better get cracking here, she's still got a ways to go and I have two weeks to do this in.

My biggest sculpt yet...WIP

 It's time to finish my pieces for the Wallowa Valley Festival of Arts in Joseph, Oregon. Hubby says I should enter the chicken pastel I posted in my previous post so now I have two more to add. I am also adding one of my abstracts, but I'm going to do some touch up before I post that one, so now I'm working on a sculpt I've been wanting to do for a long time. I have a friend in Wallowa Valley that snagged some very cool and very large gourds, this one happens to be 26 inches tall. She offered to let me buy a couple as she has plans for the rest. I originally started on a Santa with this one, but I just couldn't bring myself to finish it, so here I am, working on an Indian mother and child. I peeled off the face of the santa, which will need a new and very large gourd. :-) I'm using more than one gourd in this sculpt, the arms will be made up of two gourds each.

Here are the forearms. Look Mom, no hands! Actually, I have to wait for the top of the arms to dry before I add the forearms and since I'm not completely sure of the way the hands will go I am waiting until I attach these gourds and let the clay dry before working out the hands. For now I will work on the head and the baby that will be cradled in the mother's arms. The most exciting part of this will be the design I'm planning for the mother's dress. I'm working up a stylized version of Nez Perce designs to finish the piece off with. I only have a couple of weeks left so I'd better get to it! I'm hoping to have more pieces before the show, which is in June because they've asked me to demonstrate my sculpting so I want to have a variety to share. Gourds are so much fun to work with, the possibilities are endless don't you think?

Of Chickens and Things....

Chickens are funny creatures. They scratch and peck and bwaak bwaak their way around a yard, skittering here and there to catch a bug, or get out of the way if necessary. More and more folks are getting into raising chickens, and here in Utah there are communities that have passed ordinances allowing town folk to have a limited number on their property.
When we lived in North Pole we had several chickens, the white Cornish cross we would raise every year for eating. The year my ex and I split the second time I was left with about 30. They became my visitor greeters, surrounding any vehicle that came into our driveway, pecking at their tires and waiting for the "victim" to get out. I looked out my living room window one day to see a friend sitting on his bike with my little flock staring up at him. They even tried to go running with me and another friend one day. We took off down my drive and heard the skitter of tiny feet. As we looked back all my little hens were following us, trying to keep up.
We would like to raise laying hens some day, but for now, I will suffice with painting them. Here's a pastel I did yesterday. Do you have chickens?

An Apple a Day....

There are a multitude of reasons you should eat apples. Here's an article on 10 Reasons You Should Eat Apples.

Me, I like to paint apples as well as eat them so I always have models on hand. The above piece was done on Strathmore colored art paper. Just a study, and trial of what I can do with soft pastels. Am going to tackle some more this afternoon. 

The painting above is a pastel I did last night while sitting at the table. Hubby was serenading me with the dulcimer so we had a peaceful evening. I am heading back to the table to try my hand at more pastels. I have a couple of landscapes in mind, and need to get going on them as I have a deadline to meet for the Wallowa Valley Festival of Arts. Time to get painting!

An Interview on Artistically Speaking with Rebecca Parsons!

Artistically Speaking Talk Show with Rebecca Parsons

Although I'm draggin' tail right now I am excited to share some good news! Recently Rebecca Parsons of Artistically Speaking contacted me for an interview. Of course I said yes!  It will be fun to be on the other side of the mike as I am accustomed to being the interviewer as a former radio talk show host and producer. If you would like to join us, please tune in on Sunday at 6:30 PM EST Sunday March 11th. I've linked the banner so stop by and let's get together and chat!