Friday, February 25, 2011

I have been busy in the studio.

I had promised to show you what has been going on in the studio, so here we go.

Quite a few of these items I have picked up at General Salvage, one of my all-time favourite stores in town. I will do a post about it in the near future with lots of pictures so that you can see why I like it so much. The brass picture frames I picked up at Salvation Army. This lot will be turned into parade lanterns, rattles and sculptures.

What looks like a tin can is a piece in progress, Debra Schoch of "HopHopJingleBoo" included this label as well as a bunch of other delights in a contest give-away that I won last year - Thank-you again Debra. It is wrapped around a cardboard cylinder and by the time it is finished will look like a real tin of lima beans.

Here are those treat buckets that I was working on. Twelve new heads, some are pumpkinish but most of them are based on squash and gourds. The moulds are ready to be taken off of the clay heads and then I can cast, paint and assemble all kinds of delights.

I thought that I would show you how I approach the sculpting of the heads whether they are large or small. First and foremost they are vegetables that just happen to be alive, so I always sculpt a realistic vegetable first. I have various books that I use for reference, so with a quick look or a bit of a study I sculpt the veggy form.

Once the vegetable has been sculpted I turn it around to find the side that the face looks the best on. Large lumps of clay are placed on the veggie for the features. They are then smoothed out, refined, all the while adding more clay as needed to build the face to its completion.

This is what I finally ended up with for this squash. I have other large heads that are ready to be turned into moulds but you will have to wait and see what I come up with for the finished pieces.

This year I will only be focusing on Hallowe'en sculptures. I am fairly busy doing window displays for the shopping centre. Sometimes I have a nice large block of time to work in the studio then all of a sudden I have a display job that cuts into studio time, this happens with freelance work and it is not a complaint. I need a lot of finished pieces for September. It will be easier to focus on one holiday and have the work ready in time without losing my mind.

Why do I have to have so much work ready for September, you may ask. I will be seeing a lot of my on-line friends in Petaluma, California at Hallowe'en and Vine. I have been accepted, WHOOPEE!!!

Well, I had better get back to work. 

Thursday, February 24, 2011

More snow pictures.

I realize that there are a lot of people out there that really don't want to see any more snow pictures but it is such a novelty in Victoria that I am going to indulge myself. On the isIand we don't get 6 months of snow. A bad winter is more than two weeks of snow all totaled and for that reason I can honestly say I love it!

I took these two pictures yesterday when we walked to the mall. It looks like we are out in the wilderness but this stream is tucked between the residential area and a major road.

There is a wooden bridge to cross over it. I photographed the stream from both sides of the bridge. This stream is so beautiful during the different seasons. When we walk to the mall we usually stop to have a look at it.

I will do a post tomorrow about some of the items that I have been working on.

We have snow!

I thought that I had better do a post just so that no one thought that I was lying comatose on the ground sucking jujubes with my hands twitching at my sides full of licorice ropes, toffees, and chocolate covered coffee beans.

There was only supposed to be about 3" or 4" of snow yesterday...

...but we ended up with over 30cm/12"! There was supposed to be another 25cm/10" coming last night but it didn't arrive. It is supposed to snow today so we shall see. Tomorrow I believe it is all to turn to rain and start to disappear.

(I spray painted four columns for a party last year and liked them in the garden so much that I left them there. There used to be a tall bright yellow column beside the watermelon pink column - top picture - but it is now in the Spring window display at Hillside Shopping Centre.)

I will do an update tomorrow about some of the things that are going on in the studio.

Sunday, February 13, 2011

Happy Valentine's Day!


Happy Valentine's Day everyone. Have fun with your "Sweetie-pie" and if you don't have a special someone in your life don't fret, it will happen, in the meantime do something special for someone.