Beginning to see the light.....

Just a brief post as I'm about to rush off to tackle one or two items on a lengthy 'to-do' list. This is the third 'white' piece and the second to last piece that I hope to complete before SALA opens next Friday.

I don't often make sleeping figures....for me the eyes are too integral to the life of the piece to have them closed, but when I tried to 'wake' this little faery up she was quite adamant that she did not want to be disturbed....so after three failed attempts, I gave in. As it turns out, she is the family favourite at the moment and the reaction to her doesn't appear to be lessened by her closed eyes.....actually, there is a vulnerability about this faery that makes me feel very protective of her, a more child-like quality than I usually portray. She is still waiting for her wings, which I'm currently working on, then hopefully I can get some nice shots of her....perhaps some by candlelight would look effective? Hmmmm.

So, now I'm on to the last task, which is to complete the life-sized 'goblinish' fellow that I started some months ago and then became side-tracked from. I think he would be an eye-catching addition to my new little gallery downstairs. I've set myself a very strict time-table to work to and, if no major disasters arise, he should be finished by Tuesday next week.

Before I go, I'd just like to mention that my dear friend Koldo Barroso has completed his "Kooky Pets" book and it is now available to pre-order here. I can't say enough good things about this amazingly talented artist and writer. Besides his gift for making beautiful, imaginative and very often humorous art, he is a truly kind and generous person. This is evidenced not only in the incredibly reasonable price of his gorgeous book, but also by the fact that he is including an original (!!) drawing with each of the limited edition copies! Far too good to miss out on .........!

Till next time.

A nanny-goat and a red wall....

I completed the 'goat-woman' piece yesterday after working obsessively on her for the past week....the paint job was more difficult on this piece because she has mostly smooth surfaces on her skin....it's not as interesting as lots of wrinkles but there still needs to be some subtle variations or it comes out looking too flat. I think what finally brought it to life was painting in the blue veins just visible on her breasts and the backs of her hands....her skin is almost white so this added some believability, I think.

I still can't believe my luck in finding the perfect hair for her. Initially, I had planned to give her some beautiful, long, white Tibetan lambs wool locks, but on trying them out they almost cancelled out the horns and really were too white for the piece. Rummaging through my collection of hair (only a doll artist could write that sentence!) I found a small piece of fleece that was exactly the right size and color.....it is a near perfect match for the linen fabric of her dress. The 'crook' was an afterthought....she needed to be holding something and I have no doubt that she would not hesitate to use it as a weapon, if provoked!

I've also included a photo of her 'unclothed'.....the lower part of her body is lamp base, one of several that I picked up on sale at a craft supply place. I'm really enjoying these 'pedestal pieces' and have found the absence of color to be oddly liberating. I find that I'm thinking about things in a way that I haven't before. I've always thought of my sculpting as drawing with clay, but this feels even more so.....although there is less to convey the mood of the piece, there is somehow more.

The last few photos are of the downstairs gallery space and my delicious red wall. It still needs its final coat, as do the now cream plinths, but already the room is lifted. There is so much dark timber down there, it really needed some lightening up.....the black plinths were just too heavy and the beige walls too bland. The carpet cleaner comes on Friday, so hopefully will be able to start setting up on the weekend. Will post more pics then.

Now, it's back to the sculpting table.

Till next time.

So much to do, so little time....

It's just under three weeks until the SALA Festival and things are finally starting to come together. This will be the first time that my new "gallery space" will be open to the public and so I am anxious to not only have some completed work for people to look at, but also to have the (very small) space looking its best. To that end, we (my husband & myself) have been re-painting walls, re-painting plinths, cleaning and polishing timber work, having carpets steam cleaned, framing prints and drawings and generally running ourselves ragged on the weekends and evenings, which is the only time we have to do this stuff. I was starting to think it was all a bit much until about an hour ago when Guy completed painting the main feature wall.....it is now the most delicious, opulent red I've ever seen and I am totally in love with it....I keep going downstairs just to stare at it and picture how wonderful my new cream plinths and 'white themed' pieces are going to look in front of it. As far as interior decorating goes, to me there is nothing more exciting than putting 'big color' on a wall. It has completely transformed the room and given me a space in which I'm proud and excited to display my work.

The top three photos are my newest completed piece and the horned woman underneath is further along now and will be completed early next week.....another 'white' piece. The little goblin at the bottom was a diversion and will most likely be a full sculpt, although I probably won't get back to it for a few weeks.

So, the plan is to complete the horned woman, create one more white piece and finish the lifesize goblin I built a couple of months ago, in that order, before July 30th. Oh, and then there's the designing and printing of new cards, brochures, bookmarks etc, updating the website, re-painting the porch with non-slip paint so I don't get sued if someone takes a tumble in the wet weather and at least a dozen other things that aren't even remotely interesting but still need to be done.

I figure if I reduce my sleeping to a few hours a night and forgo any semblance of a social life, I might just about make it.

Till next time.