Fancy Goldfish ~ paper sculpt WIP 2

I've just completed the sculpting process. Yes! The head was formed using another coffee filter and the scales near the tail portion were created from printer paper with a hole punch. The scales on the forward area of the body were fashioned from 90# card stock using the same hole punch. I added another fin that drapes below the chin area using more printer paper. Now it's time to let things dry. The gel medium is still tacky and probably will be for a day or two. If we get the rain they're predicting it may take longer. In the meantime, I'm going to create a few sample sculpts so I can try out various palettes and mediums. 

Fancy Gold Fish ~ paper sculpt WIP 1

I fell in love with a gorgeous fantail goldfish I saw online so I decided to use it has inspiration for my next attempt at paper sculpting. I had the brilliant (?) idea to use coffee filters for the long, flowing fins. I think it worked out fairly well but now I'm not sure how to tackle the body of the fish. This will take some more thought. I'm working on Yupo again, using gloss gel medium as my glue and sculpting medium. I did use facial tissue for the small side fins. I wanted them to appear more delicate.

I drew a simple sketch directly on the Yupo with pencil to guide me. I can still see the sketch through the layer of tracing paper I put down for my background (because I didn't want the background to be naked Yupo). That was a huge relief. Otherwise I would be flying blind.  

Blown Glass Rooster

I can't think of a title for this so I'll call it what it is....a glass rooster. It's a little tschotske that came from my parent's old house. I have no idea where they got it but it's a colorful little thing. I drew and painted this from life. I scanned the painting because it's small...roughly 5" x 9" so every little boo-boo shows up and the colors are a bit blown out. It was a fun exercise and I enjoyed getting my brushes wet again. I'll be on to another sculpted paper project tomorrow and it may take a few days before I have anything to show. I'll have to wait for each coat of gel medium to dry and I don't want to rush things. 

Alcohol Ink on Sculpted Paper

I've planned on trying this for months and finally got to it the last few days. This is sculpted paper on Yupo Col Mitchell style (link) using tracing paper and gel gloss medium. The little bird was cut from Yupo and glued in place with Mod Podge. I wish now I had taken a photo before I applied the ink so you could see the sculpt work. This is only about 4 1/2" x 5 1/2" and is really too small a format to get terribly creative. I just wanted to see if I could do it at all. I've said many times how I love to add texture to my work and this is certainly one exciting way to do just that.

Cornfield Crucifixion

SOLD

Sounds pretty glum, doesn't it? I also spelled the word 'crucifixion' wrong on my drawing. Oh, well. I'm having a time getting inspired. Another collage has gotten the best of me and I'm stuck on another project. Naturally my mind wanders to dark places. In this case, scarecrows. They have always 'creeped me out'. I think most folks see them as whimsical folk art-y creations meant to scare crows but I doubt they really work. Crows are pretty savvy. Creating a man-like 'thing' and hanging it on a cross in a cornfield has never set right with me. Anyway, it was something to draw while I think of something better.

Small Works ~ in progress

The rainy background is strips of newspaper glued to Yupo. The figure is soft pastel.

This one is still a work in progress. I'm not sure where its headed yet.

I'm working on a series of small 'creations' using various techniques I've been dying to try out. A little collage, some mixed media, ink...anything that floats my boat. Since these are all roughly 4" x 6", if a few fail it's no big deal. My style seems to be no style so why not go with that premise and see where it takes me. Last year I chose to stick with the alcohol ink but because my lungs have become so touchy I've been hesitant to play with these inks too often. I'm not planning to give them up by any means but I thought I'd mix things up a bit.  

Digby Redux ~ complete

I finally settled on a palette for this one and after that, things went pretty fast. I've painted this on Fabriano 140# HP with a color combo I love...Quin. Gold, Carbazole Violet and Quin. Sienna. I added a little FUB to the violet and the camera really picked it up. Hopefully I'll be able to get a better photo with colors that are more true to life when the light is better. It's too sunny today. I worked from the original photo and the posterized version so it turned out slightly stylized but I kinda like it!