Fox

This little fox was in our back yard the other day. Robert looked out the back door, and there she was, lying in the sun looking perfectly content. By the time he got the camera out, she was headed off to look for food, but stopped and posed in this perfectly stacked position, so he could get a nice shot of her structure. Such a beautiful little creature!

encaustics

Now that my drawing course is done, I finally feel like I can play again, so I dug out my encaustics and painted a couple of pictures of trees. The one above is small - about 8 inches square, and the one below is about 12 inches square. Both are done on claybord.

update

I have been taking a drawing class lately, so my artwork hasn't really been anything worth sharing. I did this quick sketch of Rhaynie before the class started, because I was thinking it would be a good image for a business card. The whole thing doesn't work too well, because it isn't really the right shape, but a cropped close up of her head might work.

The pictures below are some sketches done in class. They are quite big, and didn't photograph well, but they give you an idea about what has been keeping me busy. I am glad to be done with the course, though, because now I cna get back to the many half-finished projects waiting for my attention.

Thanks for taking a look!

Silver Clay Zoi

I mentioned to someone the other day that I had purchased a silver clay kiln, and that I wanted to try a 'zoi pin. She asked if I had enough skill to do a decent job, and I must admit I did hesitate before answering. I had to try it immediately, and I think it came out OK. What do you think? It was quite a bit larger before I fired it, but this is a nice petite size. I'm not sure it is worth the $60 in materials, though. And so far it is just a flat image of a 'zoi - I still don't know how to do silver solder, so it doesn't have a pin back yet. Next lesson, silver solder!

chain mail

I have been learning to make chain mail. This is a necklace made using the byzantine weave and very large rings (14ga and .5 inch diameter). The weave kind of falls apart without being stretched, but it stays in place when it is being worn.

I have also been learning how to use my metal clay kiln. The clay is really strange texture - slippery on the outside and hard and dry inside - so it is difficult to work with. I made this ring, and as it was drying, it cracked at the join, so I syringed a bit of clay over the crack and pushed in a tiger eye bead. I thought that the clay would cover the hole in the bead, but it shrank enough that the hole shows, and the bead turned red. It needs a bit of sanding, which I should have done before firing, but I didn't know what to expect, and everything I have read suggested that the dried ring would be really delicate and would crumble if I touched it. The ring shrank one size, as expected, and fits perfectly. Not bad for an experiment!

I was trying to copy an antique Egyptian turquoise faience ring using polymer clay. It took me five or six tries before I got one that fits, but I think it turned out pretty close. These are my examples:

Here is the original:

update

I managed to get a couple of things done this weekend - in addition to the normal cleaning. It was beautiful weather, so we also got a couple of long dog walks in. It feels like spring is on the way, and even though I know it will get cold again, and likely stay cold for at least another month, it was wonderful to take a moment and feel the warmth of the sun baking though the window.

I thought I would try making red hearts for Valentine's day, using the basic recipe for elephant ears with a bit of red food coloring. The recipe is really simple: just roll out puff pastry, dusting the curface with sugar instead of flour, sprinkle sugar and cinnamon over the top, roll and slice. I mixed some red food coloring with the cinnamon/sugar mixture and this is what happened:

They aren't very romantic, but they taste just as good as the original. I thought they would be good Halloween cookies, since they look like bleeding hearts. Or maybe they are good Valentine hearts for those who are hurting and need some sweet consolation.

I also managed to get a few paintings completed this weekend. This one was failing, and the colors were all washed out, so I added a bit of alcohol inks on the top, and viola!

The next two were started with alcohol inks on clay board, with a coating of wax on top:

Fly trap

I bought this venus fly trap in the fall, and left it sitting on the kitchen table, fully expecting it to die like they always do. I had been reading about them, and discovered that they need to go into hybernation, and when they do, they look dead, so most people throw them out. I figured if I left it in the original container, it might have a better chance of survival, even though the container is rather tacky. To my amazement, not only did it continue to thrive, but it started to flower just before Christmas, and had flowers for about four weeks.

This is a close up of the flower.

Catching up

I know I have been very quiet, so I thought I would finally post a few images of what I have been working on for the past several weeks. These were all completed in 2010 - the new year has been such an awful series of unfortunate events that I am starting to worry about what is coming next.....

I found a couple of these sweet little baby mermaids in tiny rocking shells: and captured this brownie alive in an old candle lantern:

And I finally managed to find some display cases for the mummified dryads we collected in the late fall this year. The frames are from Ikea, and they work perfectly as specimen cases for these dimunitive creatures. Well, dead bodies really, but you know what I mean.

Acer Saccharinum Sylvanii

Populus Canescens Sylvanii