The Guardian

Awhile ago I posted the beginning of this piece. Then I kind of backburnered him. When I found out about the show I didn't think I would have time to finish, but YAY I did.
This shot shows his feet which I added claws to. They came from my really old cat who sheds them on a regular basis. I don't know why but he does. And being me, I save them His head is made from the Devils Claw my buddy Rose sent me from Arizona. Truly weird stuff. I gave him red garnet eyes.

All told he stands just short of a foot in height. I decorated his base with a bunch of stones I pried from old costume jewelry. I really love the skull bead. The crystals towards his tail are also from Rose. She collected them for me. Rose, you rock!!

Sprinkled around the jewels are micron beads from Fire Mountain. The base is a slab of agate I use for a weight when I'm working. But it seemed like it needed to be used for this. So I'll just have to go outside and find a rock to use for weight instead.

Hope you like him.

Peace

The winner and the Winter Queen

First, the winner of the give-away is Carol from Art-N-Quilt. Congratulations Carol. And thanks to everyone who took part in my very first give-away.
So awhile ago I started the Winter Queen and gave up on her.
I just couldn't figure out how to finish her up. Then my sister Kate suggested the fabric treatment and VOILA she was right.Itis just what I needed.
I pried up part of the fox fur and glued it inplace. Then I just twisted it till it looked right. Then I sewed a few seed beads to hold the twist in place. Then I used a tack on the back to secure it.

All in all I'm pretty happy with her. She will be going into the show.

Peace

Sculpting the wind

I forgot to say about the Dark Angel that she is beaded on both sides and meantto be hung from the ceiling.
So, awhile ago I posted about the wind arund here. It blows all the time seems like. And we live a couple of 15 feet from the edge of a pine forest, so it sounds sometimes like being in a tornado.
So it was bothering me one night and I started thinking of that song 'They Call The Wind Mariah'. And I decided to sculpt the wind.
I LOVE using window screen. You can get some very cool effects from it. So I cut a piece and turned the edges and then just folded it till I was happy. Then I started beading with colors that match the screen and tattered strips of chiffon just for more texture.
Then I made the face from sculpey and beaded around her.

Then I cut another peicec and turned the edges and mounted the piece with 26 g silver wire and Mariah was born.

I am VERY happy with how she turned out.

But man oh man what a lot of work. You could go blind doing that kind of beading.

Peace

Angel Obscura

This is 'Angel Obscura' which is Dark Angel in Spanish so I'm told. I sculpted the wing in flexible modeling paste. Then I painted the whole wing in metallic black and hilighted in metallic purple and blue.

Then I drilled holes for the chain to hang and beaded in 15/0 seed beads from Fire Mountain Gems.

I'm not going to share what I used for the base at this time. Sorry, I usually share everything, but not this time.

This piece is about 2 feet wide and about 1 1/2 feet hi.

Hope you like it.

Peace

Yay I'm back online!!!

Hi everybody! I feel like I've been gone for ages. Our computer died and we had to wait awhile to get it fixed. And living where I do, and not knowing anyone in the area really, I didn't have access to one to use. I did go to the library a couple of times and used theirs, but all I managed to do was ask a friend to let you all know where I was.
I have some big news. I am going to be having a gallery show in Dec. It is my first and I will be showing with another mixed media artist. This is my first show and I am very excited.
So this is one of the peices I made for it. The face is painted and covered with pics of silver screen sirens. The film reels are mounted with liquid nails. The curly stuff is film strips. I call her 'Goddess' Of The Silver Screen. Then I wanted to try my hand at mosiacs for awhile, but couldn't get inspired by anything. Then I was given a broken mirror and thought 'ooh this could be cool'. So I tried to break it, but it is a really old mirror and wouldn't shatter like I wanted. So I got some mirror tiles and had a lot of fun smashing them.
Then I placed them around and glued them in place. Then since I mounted them on canvas I used modeling paste instead of grout. I thought the grout might be too heavy. Then I painted using metallic craft paint. And there you go. It is called 'Reflections'.

Finally, to celebrate being back among the artful, I am doing my first give-away. This is a really fun 2009 calendar. I will pick a name from the first 20 people who leave comments here. I hope you win it, it is a pretty calendar.

Thanks to my friends who E'd asking if I was ok. I am sorry I couldn't respond. But I was very touched that you missed me.

Peace

Finished Whimsy

I am very happy with the result of my attempt at whimsy. This is the first time I have ever put my handwriting on anything artistic. It is such an untidy scrawl that I never thought it would work, but it ain't half bad!

So, this is an 8x10 canvas. First I put a light coat of modeling paste down. After that dried the first color went on. Sfter that dried I put on the second color. But I didn't cover it completely. And around the edges of some of the open spaces I dabbed with a paper towel just cuz. I put the blue on sort of thick and while it was still wet I wrote in it with the big end of a flat toothpick.
Here's what I wrote:
what would you be if you could dream a new life
would you fly across the clouds or glide to the bottom of the ocean
would you dance across the stage of life taking bows and giving encores
would you sing in a voice so pure it would make people cry
or would you just be


Then I wanted some big stamp effect, but I don't have any big stamps. So I cut one out of a piece of that foamy stuff you use for kids crafts. That's what the diamond shapes are.

Then I found a bird image and cut into it so it would look like the bird had dressed up in peacock feathers. Then I found the metal thingie in my stash and there ya go!

Oh and I painted some little wooden pieces black and glued them up top.

This piece is titled' Dream' and after I live with it for awhile it will probably go into my Etsy shop.

Peace

A Dragon In The Making

I am really excited about this. It is going to be a Dragon sculpture. You are looking at the tail and the head. I am stringing small bones on copper wire. They are very small, about 1/4 inch or so. The biggest cgallenge is getting them glued together without any glue showing. So this is the tail and next I will be working on the back, ribs and legs. I even got some cat claws to use as talons! Did you know when cats get REALLY old they shed their claws? I didn't, but they do.
This is going to be the head. It is a piece of Devils Claw from my friend Rose in AZ. I gave it a shot of white spray paint and am going to add a little off-white so it matches the bones better.
This is a collage/mixed media piece I have just started. I have never used my writing in a piece before because I write like a grade school kid. But I figured I would give it a shot on this piece and it's not too bad.
I wanted to stamp big shapes, but I don't have any big stamps so I made my own with that foamie stuff you use to make stuff for kids.
So that's what I've been up to.

Peace