I was making a captured fairy for my sister as a birthday present, and got into a bit of a rush to finish. I put it in the oven before it was fully heated, and the broiler came on and burned the hands and feet. I am going to have to start all over, and won't be able to deliver it as planned.
He kind of looks like he was digging in the dirt. Or maybe an oil slick off the gulf coast....

Best in Breed!

Rhaynie won best in breed at the show on the weekend, despite my inept handling! Woohoo!
Now I just need to learn how to do this properly so she can place in the group again!

update

I seem to have hit a creative block, and can't get past it. I think it is this art doll I have been working on - I made the head, hands and feet at Christmas, and then put it all together in January, but now I can't decide how to finish it. I made the body using a technique recommended online, and it has resulted in ridges all around the body that will show if the clothing material is too thin. I wanted to dress her in something mossy, with black hair with white steaks so she looks very earthy, but I'm having trouble finding the right material. I think perhaps she has become too precious, and I am getting too stressed about getting it right. I guess I need to make the clothing removable so I can change it later.

I put all my art supplies away over the Christmas break when I cleaned up the studio (I use my art table to serve Christmas dinner because it is the only table large enough to seat that many people). I thought that a bit of a change might help me get back into the creative mood, so I dragged all my encaustic materials out of storage and made this encaustic landscape. Of course, my iron caught fire before I got halfway through and I had to find alternative tools to get it done, but I think it worked out OK in the end. The little encaustic iron is such a vital tool, and I had become a bit dependent on it, so it helped stretch my skills a bit to be forced to work with a different set of tools. Encaustic Landscape

cradled 8x10 Claybord

self portrait

I apologise for being absent for such a long while, but it is mostly because I have been so very busy with my new job that I am exhausted at the end of the day, and can't summon the energy to do much. However, I was surfing on the weekend, and got inspired by an image on a website, which of course, I didn't record so I can't give credit where it is due.

This started with a plaster cast of my face. It was going to be mostly white, with some aging techniques to make it look like old marble. It was a bit boring, and I thought that a bit of color might make it look like an earth goddess image. It ended up looking more like a moldy cadaver (it isn't quite a pretty in real life). So I guess this is a self-portrait as a zombie. ;-))

Pod creatures

I took an online course from Pattee's (Odd-Dolls) Ning site. It was a lot of fun, and Pattee did a great job of demonstrating all her techniques. It was fascinating learning how other people put together a face - she used a really unique approach. I got carried away and made four, and haven't even used the eyes she sent with the kit. This was great fun!

I think this one is my favorite: and one peeking out of a shell:

head - work in progress

I made this head while I was waiting for a video to download the other night. I didn't have any eyes on hand, so I tried making some using black and gold glass paint on the back of some of the flat glass marbles that are used for displaying cut flowers. The glass paints are permanent once baked, and the gold turned out much better than the dark blue I had on hand. I was also hoping that the eyes might work like the portrait eyes that follow the viewer around the room. The trick Disney uses is to make the eyes concave instead of convex. It occurred to me that if they look like they are following the viewer, it wouldn't be so difficult to set eyes. I often get crossed eyes, because the position seems to change during baking and shrinking, and it ruins a lot of work.

Anyway, the eyes were much too big for the foil ball, which meant that he developed this rather mean expression on his face (of course, I helped along a wee bit!). He might have made a good Scrooge, but he said he was much more trollish.

tea cup fairy

I love making these little fairy babies. They are relatively quick and if they don't turn out the first time, it is easy to squish and remake. I made two of these as Christmas gifts for some friends. I sure hope they like them!