No place like home

We were recently gifted this painting by my mother who, after a long period of abstention, has finally lifted a paintbrush again.  Jolene and I were delighted to receive it, not least of all since it’s a painting of our (and our neighbours) house, it’s based on a photo from a couple of years back and features one of my nephews a long with our wee lad and lass.  Of course, all we need to do now is find somewhere to hang it which, given the state of disrepair our home is currently in is easier said than done!!

Typically, the photograph has washed the colours out and no amount of fiddling in the photo editor, with my limited skills, was going to fix that I’m afraid.  Still it was a lovely gesture and Jolene and I will be delighted to hang it … just as soon as we have somewhere to hang it!!

more bonnie birds … an obsession in papier mache!

It’s funny how an idea can sprout wings and take-off (dreadful pun entirely intended), such as it has been with these bonnie birds.  It’s rather refreshing to have something I can make out of papier mache that doesn’t take forever and a day and that isn’t a bowl!  Aside from this pair I’m hatching three more and they should be fully fledged in the next few days (and yes, that was a couple more of dreadful puns that were entirely intended).

This pair seem to be diametrically opposed in terms of form, one’s short and fat and the other a bit leggy with a great fan of a tail, the tail’s something I can see me repeating and refining on future versions.

Of course, like all birds that flock, it doesn’t take long for them to catch-up with more of their own kind …

… I imagine this flock will be growing as they, ahem, get to know each other better … well, it is almost Spring!!

All of these birds are available for sale in our shop.

wise little owls

I made some more little owls for a commission (actually for an old school friend of mine).

These are made from ecospun felt.  I found that wool felt is too thick and it made them a funny shape – it’s probably just me, but it does feel good to make something nice from all those nasty plastic bottles.

Anyway, these are destined for a group of nursery children and I really do hope that they enjoy playing with them as much as I enjoyed seeing their little characters emerging.  Looks like the start of a beautiful owl relationship to me.

I am more than happy to make more of these to order…you can buy them through the shop.

Bonnie Birds!

I’ve been watching Jolene create her fabric finches for months now, I suppose it was inevitable that I would end up taking some inspiration from them and feeding it into what I’m doing myself … indeed, Jolene alluded to as much here.  The WIP previews she gave there though have long since been finished, and discarded on the basis that they were, well, rubbish!

I’m rather proud of the these ones though, the refined and finished product if you will.  Being me, they’re predominantly papier mache with a bit of wire and armature thrown in for good measure before being finished in acrylics and a tough high gloss varnish.

The design is based on some rather fabulous silk that Jolene bought from a seller in India for another project that she’s working on, also from discussions with Jolene about Paisley pattern – a very simplified tear drop has been adopted for the wings here – and I’ve also been listening to some Deva Premal which has no doubt fed in to the general feel of the pieces … although I’ve no idea where she’s from!?!

OK, google sorted out the latter one there … she’s from Germany and wiki says:

is a musician known for her meditative spiritual New Age music, which puts ancient Hindu mantras into atmospheric, contemporary settings.

Am I becoming an old hippy?  Actually never-mind, people were accusing me of being an old hippy before I was even 20 … actually I think the term they used was “weirdo”!!

These Bonnie Birds are available to purchase in out Coriandr shop.

Vintage Button Pendants

I’ve been busy making layered button pendants today from some of my vintage button collection.  These buttons have been collected from various elderly relatives over the years and there are some amazing buttons within that collection, some of which make great pendants within themselves.

I’ve not even scratched the surface of the buttons I have, which makes it really time consuming to come up with combinations.  There must be millions of possibilities.  Here are a few that I’ve made this morning that are now dry.  There are others just waiting for the glue to dry.

All but the last one are available in our Coriandr shop.  I’m not at all happy with the quality of the last one…you can see the glue under the heart button.

Gruber ~ Demon in a waistcoat

I had promised to have this finished by April 2009, so obviously I’m delighted to have finished it before it goes a full year past my own self-imposed ‘due date’!

Like most of his erstwhile and largely forgotten friends Gruber is keen on world domination, although it’s perhaps telling that he and his cohorts are largely forgotten given their compete ineptitude when it comes to matters of actually achieving world domination.  Indeed his most well known cousin, Gravalash, was defeated by his inability to get off a high shelf and whilst such trifling difficulties are unlikely to be of much difficulty to this fellow the complexities of reaching the door handle have limited the range of Gruber and the fulfilment of his innocuous plans.

He dreams of breaking loose and running free as he once did, although he is still haunted by the nightmare of attempting to cross a field of snow that proved to be too cold for his tippy-toes, alas what else is left for him other than to stand at the window and wave at the post lady …

Gruber stands at 18.5″ / 47cm tall, is 16.25″ / 41cm from the tip of one horn to the tip of the other, and is approx 11″ / 28cm deep.

He is available for sale, to a good (and secure) home in our Coriandr shop, here – additional images are also there.

a new bird design

I made a new bird.

The process has been somewhat arduous and there have been many poor deformed creatures along the way.  It’s taken me such a long time of thinking before I finally plucked up the courage to create a new design.  It seems so silly now but I was so pleased with the original bird design (for the fabric finches) that I was scared I wouldn’t be able to produce anything even approaching the quality and that would be a waste of my limited time and materials.

I finally arrived at a flying bird that I am reasonably happy with.  It’s supposed to be a goose but the kids think it looks like a seagull.  I’m pleased that it even looks like a bird at all!

I’m thinking about making a mobile with a whole flock of them.  I think that would be cool.  I say thinking but there’s always a huge gap between thinking and doing so please don’t hold your breath.

Meanwhile, Alasdair has been busy and has been making some very funky paper and wire birds; more on those when they’re finished but in the meantime a picture of them drying following the first coat of paper.

Kezeff ~ featured artist

I’ve really been taken by the work of Kezeff, another artist I found on DeviantArt.  I’ve only been following them for a short period, but even in that time I have been fairly impressed not only by the quality of their work but by the creativity behind it and the seemingly highly effective execution of that creativity.  Kezeff uses super-sculpey in creating their sculptures, a hugely popular material (and something I’ve been itching to try myself) and I believe paints them up with acrylics for the most part. You can find more of their work here.

Face Parts Study

Aspiring artists and sculptors would do well to take a leaf out of Kezeff’s book and do some studies of whatever their preferred subject matter is. I’m sure it’s something that I would benefit from, even where your intention is to twist it in some fashion understanding the basic anatomy of your subject can be hugely beneficial.

Much of Kezeff’s work appears to consist of busts either in a more realistic fashion as with this piece here:

Battle Chasers Knolan Bust

Or something a bit more corrupted like this fellow:

Zed

Kezeff has also worked to create some the more quirky pieces such as these wee characters here:

Snoogle

Pumpkin Carl

I really enjoy viewing the sculptures that Kezeff creates, but what keeps me coming back for more (aside from the cool subject matter) is the attention to detail that he puts into the sculptures. Look back over the images above and notice the wrinkles and creases in the skin, the underlying bone structure, the attention to making moist elements appear moist and the variation in skin tone and texture. It’s each of these elements that add up to make some rather great sculptures and I can’t recommend enough that you take a look at their DeviantArt account to see more of their work.

With luck I’ll have one of my own sculptures to share with you soon, I can’t promise it’ll be as refined as these but it will be in my own particular (shouldn’t that be peculiar?! – ed.) style!!

wire bird

I spent an hour or two this week ogling at Joel Henriques’ blog and artwork.  I was particularly struck by the simplicity and beauty of these wood and wire toys:

So inspired was I, that I had a go at making my own wire bird…I think it’s ok for a first attempt.  I’m pondering a range of wire owls…

I had to take it outside for a photo opp.  It’s still so dark and dreary here despite us being south facing.

Good news though…the daffs are pocking their heads out…spring will be with us soon enough.

wedding cake toppers

A few weeks ago I posted about my Music Print Bird that was an idea for wedding cake topper “love birds”.  It was ok as far as ideas go but not quite lush enough.  I set off in search of something a little bit special and came across some dupioni silk from India.  I couldn’t resist using it to make a set of love birds.

The groom is entirely made of the silk.  The  bride is silk with a lace and seed bead detail.  I’m really please with this pair and I’m sure they’re all set for many years of wedded bliss.

She’s thinking about the pimms!