time for warm sweaters

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For the Little Things show at the Guardino Gallery I made all kinds of creatures wearing tiny sweaters. This show of excellent art of 7 inches or less will open at Guardino Gallery, 2939 NE Alberta this Friday, November 29th 6 to 9 pm and run through December. Many of my favorite artists have pieces in this. The really cool thing is that you can buy art and take it home immediately, which is a plus if you are looking for presents!

existentialist giraffes

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Seems that I can't stop knitting tiny sweaters this month, so it's only fitting that I made turtlenecks for Jean-Claude and François the existentialist giraffes. You will be able to visit them and a bunch of other fine giraffes at the Good Gallery in December. Opening night for The Art Of Giraffe is on December 6th 7 to 9 pm at 4325 N Mississippi Ave. Always a good time!

sweater guys

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I am working on some sculptures for the December Little Things show at Guardino gallery. They are all different kinds of critters that have little hand knitted sweaters to keep them warm. As I often do, I started painting them with a black base layer. They looked so cool in silhouette in front of the window on my work table that I just had to share this little work-in -progress snapshot.

so much river

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This week we cut the rough shapes for the river that will go all the way around the room in our upcoming art show River Without End. Sarah Hall is measuring the pieces and Catherine, our australian trailer guest is helping out too. For now the pieces are labeled and going back into the rafters of the garage. The whole layout is planned in Sketchup and Photoshop. I really hope that everything will fit together as planned and that I did my math right.

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lemmy and zoot step by step

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In case you've been wondering what my sculptures look like on the inside, here is a step by step documentation on the making of Lemmy and Zoot. I start out with balled up newspaper inside a cage of chicken wire, then I cover the rough shape with my first layer of paper mache. In the oven I speed up their drying time so I can get to the next step. Paper mache takes a long time to dry, so anything I do has to be able to fit in the oven. Bigger projects have to wait until summer when I can dry them outside.

Next I make some eyes and teeth out of sculpey. My scale drawing comes in handy for that. I make some extra ones, so I'll have plenty to choose the right ones from. Zoot gets a face, together with a second, smoother layer of paper mache. Lemmy has to wait  for his face for complicated reasons having to do with the materials and the height of the oven. Back in the oven they go.

More bits get added. Lemmy's legs  and Zoot's back legs get a layer of aluminum foil and then get covered with Magic Sculpt, an extra hard epoxy that I use for the most fragile parts. Back in the oven with them! I put a sign on the oven so that nobody accidentally pre-heats the oven to 500 degrees to make a pizza and incinerates my kitties. My family knows how to interpret signs like this.

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Lemmy's tail and Zoot's front leg get a layer of a finer, harder paper mache and the lads get epoxy ears.  Haunches get smoothed out. Back in the oven two more times! Zoot has quite the zombie look there.

Finally Lemmy gets his ears and face, Zoot gets a tail and they go into the oven one last time.

Next will be paint!

meeting Lemmy and Zoot

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And the cat theme continues! My friend Eryn, a great cat- and art-lover has commissioned me to do sculpture portraits of her two adorable cats Lemmy and Zoot. I went to meet the two and took some notes on their physical appearance as well as their character. They both have distinct personalities that are very different from each other (which makes my job easy!). Lemmy is long and thin and very shy. Chubby Zoot is extremely friendly, chatty and snuggly and has a funky tail. The two love each other. Eryn provided me with photos of her darlings and I'm going to start sketching. What a fun assignment!