Gourd Carving... getting ready for the WVFA

 Trying out a new technique and flying by the seat of my pants so to speak. I see a new book out on gourd carving, right after I already started this...lol. Oh well, I've always wanted to try a tooled leather look on gourds, but I have another piece in mind. This may be titled "Trial Run".

I am getting close to my deadline, so I'd better get this done. So far, so good. I have a few tweaks to do before I finish the painting, but I am nervously and feverishly working to finish this and another piece before my deadline. I know, why wait to the last minute right? Well, work, and family stuff and illness and a family death put me behind big time so as usual I'm scrambling. It will all work out. In the mean time I think I'm going to order the book I saw and see what I can learn.

Blue Or Brown, What color are Santa's eyes? A Victorian Santa...

When I sit down to create a Santa I run into what color to paint his eyes sometimes. So I ask, what color are Santa's eyes? Does it really matter?
I painted Santa's eyes blue this time, but who knows, the next one may have brown....

Happy Jack! Halloween Gourd Folk Art

What's larger than a Hermiston watermelon and happy as can be? Jack, who is now is available now on etsy.

PFATT Marketplace Offerings for August

 Marcus Moon

SOLD!

 Northwood Pines Santa

Pumpkin, Pear, Moon Folk Art Painting

So here I am four days after the new month launch trying to get things sorted out. Not only am I waaaay behind on posting this, it appears that I boo booed and sent the wrong link or didn't get the link changed when I created my page for this month. So what you see is Marcus Moon, which is on his way to his new home, an oil can JOL, that really should be the painting above, and the Santa. These are my three offerings on the PFATT Marketplace this month, and we are working on changing the painting photo. If you are interested in the painting let me know.

Whew, all this running around trying to take care of two homes 600 miles apart, church responsibilities, family and art makes for a whirlwind life, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

If you are interested in the two pieces left that you see above, stop by PFATT Marketplace

Black Americana Uncle Sam Gourd Doll

Feeling a bit patriotic lately, Spring hasn't quite caught up with me yet. So here's my first offering of my Americana gourd folk art. I really love working with banana gourds, so I will have to get some more. This fella started out to be just an average ole white Uncle Sam, but once I got his hair done, he just didn't look like a white boy....lol. He is much more handsome as a black Uncle Sam, so there you go! You can find him on ebay right now.

A New Gathering of Folk Art Gourd Santas on PFATT

 From Remote Controls to gourds, there's nothing I leave untouched when it comes to creating Santa pieces.

These handsome fellas are on PFATT now and ready to go to a new home. You can find them here: PFATT Marketplace

Hungry Jack O' Lantern is done!

Hungry Jack O' Lantern is so ready to hang out with someone. He's an impressively large Jack, and fun to boot!
I haven't decided yet where to debut him. I will keep you posted. If you are interested, send me a note.

We 3 Santas of Alpenfest are bound....

 This weekend is Alpenfest here in Wallowa County, with all the fun that goes along, such as polka dancing, yodeling, Bavarian style foods and lots of vendors.

 Of course there must be Santas to round out the selection of goodies to be had, so I've been working like crazy to finish a few more pieces for the festivities.

 I've already talked to a few folks who haven't seen what I do yet, and they happen to collect Santa figures so I'm hoping they stop by.

These are just a few of the offerings I will have. Two gourd Santas and a tiny vanilla bottle Santa along with a handful of driftwood Santa pieces to be finished. I'm starting to catch a bug, but I'm fighting it, so let's hope I can beat it in order to enjoy all the fun. Hope to see you there!

Spooky Dude Hanging with Friends

 Spooky Dude is happily hanging out with his friends the Sweet Mamma twins. He is tickled to be out and about and looks forward to Alpenfest in Joseph, Oregon next weekend.

 Spooky Dude is trying to find more of his friends in the squash patch.... I know there are more!

Oh, he caught me with my camera. Such a poser isn't he? At two feet tall, he is pretty impressive I must say. I will keep you updated on how he fares at Alpenfest. I have a companion to him that I'm working on, and maybe more. We may have a gourd Spooky Dude and friends invasion in NE Oregon next weekend. Bwaaaahaaaahaaaaaa!

Transformation of gourd into.... WIP

 From plain Jane, to fabulous....lol! Okay, who remembers that commercial? Was it Maybelline or some other cosmetic company? Anyhew, still heading towards finishing this perhaps for tomorrows listing on ebay. Debating that one as I want to test the market at Alpenfest as well.

I will have finished photos soon, but for now I must get ready to run some errands. Today nature guy requested pizza, so because I love my hard working man, pizza he will get. As for santa production, that's a slow run, but I am working on that as well and hope to have more photos of them as well. Thanks for stopping by, I hope to see you again soon.

Something Wicked This Way Comes.....WIP

She's a little rough around the edges right now as she still has spots that need to dry. She will be an impressive 2 feet tall when finished. Hee hee! She is looking forward to getting to know you better my dearies!

The Newest Santa on the block.....

He's roly and poly and jolly with holly, and ready to find a new home. Stop by my ebay listings to learn more. Victorian Holly Dreams Santa

Work In Progress Wednesday ...He's almost done.

 Living in a basement has it's challenges, and getting projects done is one of them. This fella is awaiting one last coat of white on hair and coat trim, then I will add the embellishments after sealing him. I hope to have him finished for my demo stint at the Utah State Fair Creative Arts building on Friday. We shall see. :-)

Created using a tall gourd, this jolly ole' elf stands 19 inches tall. I will share more later so please do stop by again.

Santa is lighting the way to Christmas....

Shhhhhhh..... don't tell anyone that there's 126 days until Christmas and Santa is already gearing up to visit your home. Have you been naughty or nice? There's still time to shape up! If you would like this gourd Santa to stop by your home invite him here.. Lighting the Way Santa

Happy Monday! Okay, it is for me at least.....

 Oh the joy of listing an item on ebay and having it sell right away! Printed on very high quality heavy duty gloss finish paper, with very high quality ink, this is the last of the series I had printed from the original painting I did. I only have one of the prints left of the above painting so head on over fast to snag this! Prim Pumpkin Pear Print

 A sweet and woodsy gourd Santa, hand sculpted and painted with layers of paints, this little fella is also available here: Northwoods Dreaming Santa
So I'm having a good Monday, mailed off a few pieces that sold last week and today, and this little guy will go to some lucky home so we are starting off the week right. How's your week going?

Hagatha Witchley

 August has arrived with an outlook for back to school and fun holiday times just around the corner. Soooo, I pulled out my gourd collection, which is growing by leaps and bounds, and found this lovely lady just waiting to be brought to life. A gourdeous pumpkin witch isn't she?

Hagatha has made her debut on ebay this week, so scurry on over and learn more about her and how you might be able to have her keep you company this Halloween. You can find her here:  Hagatha Witchley

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?

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.