Wallowa Valley Festival of Arts WIP Done!

Talk about a journey! I've never sculpted a horse head before but had looked at my goose neck gourd knowing it was destined to be one. I started out with a vision of the head looking like carved stone, with a base that had a tooled leather look to it along with an oxidized copper background for the tooled leather. Sometimes things don't always end up the way I start and this was certainly no exception.

After adding the floral flourishes, I realized that it wasn't quite the way I had envisioned, so I decided to blend the top and base together. So I thought I would try a bronzed look with a leather look base. After putting the first layer of the bronzing technique on, I had another thought come to me. So I tried burnishing the floral design with an antique gold, which really made the bronze too pink or well just not right.

I was getting discouraged and had all sorts of wild ideas running through my mind. After antiquing over the bronze to give it some definition and a more realistic look, I took some Champagne metallic paint and dry brushed over the gold. It toned down the gold and changed the whole feel of the piece. So I'm done! No more fussing, and lot's of lessons learned. I would really love to do another horse head or two, using my previous ideas but in a different way. Now I need to come up with a name. We've jokingly titled it El Caballo de Calabaza, perhaps that might stick!

Wallowa Valley Festival of Arts WIP continued

I got my clay order very fast so now I'm up and running again, getting the leather tooling design look on the base of my horse sculpture. I suppose I could pyrograph the design on, but since I don't know were my wood burning tool is or whether I could do it right, I will stick with what I know, and that is clay and paint.

I'm getting excited! I am itching to get this finished and get to the painting portion, but I better be patient. I do enjoy sculpting and designing with clay so I need to enjoy the journey. After the clay flourishes and design work are done, I will clean everything up, and start painting. I hope to achieve a tooled leather look on the base, at least in part. The rest will be revealed as I go along.

Why Not Wednesday...Friend Share

A long time ago, in a land far away.....oh, no, wait! That was a story I read once....or was it a movie? I really don't remember, and yes it has been a while since I met Suzanne Urban of Smirking Goddess Studios. She first contacted me through ebay asking me to join her newly formed group, American Holiday Artists Ornaments. She had a vision, and saw a need to  fill for collectors of ornaments. We started out with the idea of just creating year round ornaments but had so many fabulous artists join us who did so much more than ornaments that we decided to expand our venue to include all types of holiday art. Thus we became American Holiday Artists. Suzanne has been a powerhouse in keeping our group running, and has sacrificed many, many hours to promote and upgrade our group.
Today I'm spotlighting her as I so admire her ability to create whimsical illustrations and designs. Not only that though, she creates the most incredibly detailed and amazing needle felted figures!

Her dedication to detail and design shows in all of her work. I own several of her little mini paintings done in her unique style, as well as a needle felted bear ornament that is just darling. Wouldn't you just love a children's book with full of Suzanne's delightful work? Learn more about Suzanne at
Suzanne Urban Designs.

Wallowa Valley Festival of Arts WIP

The progress continues. I've got maybe a touch up to do on the eyes and then on to the base. I have an idea....not sure if it will work but whatever I do has to balance the piece out and make it so it won't tip over.

I would like to do something that looks like tooled leather on the base. Wish me luck.....:-)

Monday's Muse on Abstract Art

Abstract art has always held a fascination for me. Being such a literal person, abstract pieces are intriguing in their interpretation of life and things found in life. Much of what was found in early art dealt with simple lines, form and geometric shapes to represent a certain subject. There have been several advances in abstract art with terms attached to the styles or format, such as Fauvism and Cubism. Some of the early noted abstract artists were Paul Cezanne, James McNeill Whistler and the most notable Pablo Picasso. This is quite a detailed topic so I will refer you to this article Abstract Art on Wikipedia.

My first attempt at an abstract painting was in high school down in Texas. Our teacher had us go through a stack of magazines to find a photo of something we could create an abstract piece from. I found a majestic picture of what I think was Banff National Park similar to the one above. I had a lot of fun adding multiple colors and lines going this way and that way with paint. It turned out pretty good, I guess it must have been as they framed it and hung it in the school office. You know I never got that painting back. Since then I didn't really do anything abstract in any way until the last 4-5 years when I picked up acrylics and started painting.

I'm not sure how abstract this is, but for me it was a reach outside my normal painting. It was fun to slap on the paint, using different colors and try to depict poppies without much reality. This may be more impressionist than abstract, but you be the judge. 
Have you ever tried to create an abstract painting?

Two WIP's

The journey continues as I work on the traveling doll for PWGL. I have now finished the clay portion of my work. I need to clean her up and get the petals created for her head.

I'm trying something new to enter into the art show in Oregon. Doesn't look much like a horse head yet, but I am slowly getting there. I had no idea it would be so difficult, but this is a challenge I've wanted to do for a while. I've already made some changes to the sides of the cheeks, and created the nostrils, which was no small feat. Working with a plastic horse and photos as my models has been interesting. Check back as there's more to come shortly!

Why Not Wednesday...Sharing a Gourd Artist and Her site.

I've been cruising the internet for inspiration to finish a gourd sculpt I'm doing for the Wallowa Valley Festival of Arts show in Oregon and I found some fabulous gourd artists online. One of my favorites is Patricia Boyd. Her gourd art is like nothing I've ever seen. She has an eye for form and color, and masterfully executes her style and cultural roots through her work.

Look at the detail and imagery she puts into each piece! Patricia is as nice to communicate with as her work is beautiful. For more of her gorgeous work stop by and see Patricia Boyd

MAY PFATT Marketplace

I've already had one piece sold, but I will share the other two. Created on an egg shaped gourd, this Uncle Sam sports real lambs wool hair.

A mixed media sculpted star shaped Uncle Sam backed with a 5 by 7 inch frame that holds a vintage collage image. See both of these at my Pfatt page!

Happy Mother's Day

My Mother's Day wish for you is that you enjoy all the love and affection of your family. Whether you are a mother in this life, or are waiting to be an eternal mother, you as woman have a loving, nurturing spirit, divinely endowed by God. May each day bring you a bit closer to Heaven on earth as you give to others the love that has been given to you. May you know how much you are loved, and that you will always be loved by someone. Happy Mother's Day.

WIP's Finished!

There are some good things about being home sick, such as getting some art done. Oh no, I didn't call in sick. The other day the twins daddy was up all night losing his dinner and the next morning the twins lost their breakfast all over me. Then the next day I started feeling puny and the twins were still struggling as well as mommy and big sister so we decided it would be best for me to stay home. So, when I can muster up the strength to go sit for a bit, I've been painting and putting together some pieces. This Santa is finally done and will be destined for Reasons to Believe.

Two projects I started a while ago that I finally finished, yay! I wanted to try a bit of  curly wool for hair on my newest Uncle Sam doll. He was fun to do, but now I'm covered in little white hairs from trimming his hair and beard. The other Uncle Sam wall hanging was a foam star I sculpted over and then applied to a hand painted frame with a vintage photo of the Declaration of Independence in the background. These two fellas will be part of my line up for PFATT this month. So I'm done for tonight. It's movie time, which is welcome as I'm ready to just sit and veg. Have a great evening. :-)

Traveling Doll WIP for PWGL

Sculpting is such a relaxing activity, I wish I had discovered it a long time ago.  I continue on with this doll nervously, because I've never been involved in a joint venture like this. As I've tried to make both eyes and sides of the mouth look the same, I had a bit of a vision of God or one of His angels sitting sculpting the next face to be born.

Have you ever considered that we came from a mold or a combination of facial styles that are part of a portfolio of faces? Has anyone ever said that you resemble a certain actor or singer or someone famous? Way back in the early 80's people used to say I looked like Melissa Manchester. When I look at photos of her now I see how refined her nose is compared to mine, her teeth are prettier, and well, we certainly didn't age the same.

I was also compared to Barbara Streisand lol!!!!! Really? Well okay, back then I had the same hair style she did. Well, it's off to fix a bottle and get some work done....have a great day...