Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Tea and sculpting experimentation

This is my morning:

A pot full of Rooibos red tea. Several nights of insomnia last month made me paranoid of caffeine, so though I love my green Dragon Pearl and Monkey Picked (fanciful names are they not?), Rooibos is the only flavor in my teapot these days. Amber glow in my cup, with the faint hint of a vanilla scent.

A bowl of blueberries. In a blue bowl (Can't resist that symmetry).

The doll/figurine I dug up again. I haven't touched her since last November, for frustration about what to do for her hair (thanks yesterday to Damon Bard and Rebecca Schumacher for some much needed expert advice), and for the holidays that suddenly came crashing through, demanding attention from both personal and business fronts.

After having spent this past weekend being a Good Little Artist and working very hard at Wondercon, I decided I needed some time off from necessary projects and work on something for Absolutely No Reason. As well as spending a good portion of the day curled up on the plush couch in the front room listening to the sound of the rain flowing along the roof gutters and trickling to the patio with its strange musicality, while finishing off Robin McKinley's Chalice.

And the drill. To attach her wings. Hopefully I don't screw the whole thing up at this point and end up a with a gaping hole in her chest from being heavy handed after spending several hours painting her (not to mention the sculpting). Oops.

Yesterday, after rummaging through the closets to dig for the black art box, I was fairly surprised to find that my acrylics were still usable and not dried into twisted tube shaped pieces of colored plastic. Those paints haven't been used in almost a decade.

* * *

A few more previews for Fantastical Visions, done in the quiet moments while at Wondercon:






6 comments:

  1. How was "Chalice"? I've actually hesitated on it for some reason, even though I usually snap up anything by McKinley the minute its published.

    I'm loving the pencil drawings. They're somewhat different than your usual work. The first one especially is really charming.

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  2. I've enjoyed some of her others much more. I don't know what it was because normally I love everything of hers too, but this one's style just felt very repetitive and distant. Hero and the Crown is still one of my favorites, and I just finished rereading Sunshine!

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  3. But such a delightful "good little artist". :)

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  4. I hope you will post pictures of the finished doll. What is her inspiration?

    I once made an Indian doll. I used cerulean blue and white for the sari. Then I hand sewed blue, gold, and silver beads and sequins. She was so beautiful. Doing the jewelry and other decorative elements were so much fun. I wish I had kept her. Oh well, Maybe I'll make another. :)

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  5. Very roughly this concept: http://www.shadowscapes.com/image.php?lineid=2&bid=142 (mostly in the fact that it's an angel, and the pose of the dove in her hand)

    My mother wanted a Christmas angel... for several years now, and I had promised her I would try for fun since I have never tried making a figure with hair and clothing before. I've done solid figures all of clay a few times. I think this now 3 years later and she's still (im)patiently waiting for her angel. Hopefully I'll have it in time for -this- christmas!

    But yes, I'm looking forward to doing the jewelry and clothing! I'll post her when I'm done.

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  6. funny - i'd posted a comment the other day but now it's not here ... anyway, the site looks great ! gonna have to figure out how to change my background (not good with html) love the drawings of course and the doll is simply lovely. i had offered to give any links i have to adding doll hair. i'm part of a clay community and plenty of them make froud inspired pieces with beautiful mohair. best of luck with her !

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