Lemmy and Zoot get color! I usually start with a couple of coats of black as a foundation. Then I dry-brush the color on top. Painting the eyes comes last. And I never forget to varnish the eyes to give them that extra little spark of life. Lemmy and Zoot's mum was overjoyed when I delivered the pair. Lemmy and Zoot the actual cats didn't seem to care.
I win every election because I get to collect free art materials in the form of yard signs. Sturdy, waterproof, lightweight AND free! I have a fantasy of collecting enough of them to make a tower of cards as high as a house.
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.
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!
Project Lemmy and Zoot update! After a little back and forth, Lemmy and Zoot's mom and me picked and fine tuned the couple from the drawings. I scanned and printed them out to the scale that the sculptures are going to be. Now I have a drawing to work from that is the right size!
Step 2 in my cat portrait comission: sketches. I filled a few pages with drawings but narrowed in on some favorite features pretty fast. Now I'm tweaking some details according to the cat mom's specs. Then I'm ready to take it to the 3rd dimension!
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!
I have some more kitties!
I made some big ass letters for CHAD chats, the satirical power point presentations that Mykle is the father of. They were on the stage at the Bridgetown Comedy Festival and looked great. Now, where to store them until the next CHAD chats?
I visited the 1st and 2nd grade students at Trillium Charter School for my first ever class reading. I had recently met their teacher Aron Nels Steinke, who is a fantastic cartoonist and illustrator himself and he invited me to see how my target audience would like the picture book that I have been working on. It was so fun! The kids had a lot of comments and questions. There were lively discussions about the price of ice cream, favorite flavors and about the height that a single cone could realistically be stacked with ice cream. It got even better when Aron asked the class to design the cover page for me, since I hadn't done that part yet. I always adore kid's art and they had some great ideas. I was also impressed by the visual detail they remembered from just the one reading. Amazing. Those kids are so lucky to have Aron as a teacher. I really think teachers should get paid a lot more for what they do for our children every day. Thank you teachers!
When I learned English at school they taught us the expression It's Raining Cats and Dogs. I never heard anybody actually say that, but I wish they would. Maybe I'll start using it myself. These kitties are life sized with real cat personalities somewhere between grumpy and smug. I'll be selling them at Crafty Wonderland on May 11th, one day only.
On my way to becoming a children's book illustrator I just got one step closer. I am now listed on the Transatlantic Agency website! My wonderful agent Fiona Kenshole has joined forces with Transatlantic and we are off and running. I think that is quite fitting, since I am sort of Transatlantic myself. Can't wait to see all the good things that will come my way! Thanks to Jule for taking that nice picture of me on one of our Sunday hikes! I made her take about 500.
Here is what happens when I doodle in my sketchbook while listening to NPR. A nice day to all my gay and lesbian friends!
Here is another one from the vault. I still have the head of the scarecrow in the garage.
I am spending the morning rummaging around the deep deep drawers and dusty cabinets of my computer. Here is some of what I have found so far.
To all you love bunnies.
There are two kinds of chickens in my house at the moment. One kind is a custom order for a friend who wanted a chicken a la Gesine, the other kind is getting big and stinky (photo is from when they were small and cute). Hopefully both of them will live a good long chicken life.
My first foray into fashion: tote bags with tails. There will be tote bags decorated by different artist for sale at the Trillium Arts and Crafts Spectacular on December 1st and 2nd. Stylin'! Invite all your friends to the facebook event!
And here is what I used that white hot glue for that I had hoarded for some 15 years before coming up with a good use for it: fake icing on some fake gingerbread cookies. (See my previous post on ancient art materials.) I'll be selling those at the Trillium Arts and Crafts Spectacular and at Crafty Wonderland where you can get your holidays started in style. I'll even be adding some of those guys to the popular Crafty Wonderland gift bags!
