La Mia Masquera...

...just about wraps up my Italiano.











 

Last Halloween I was battling a cold and didn't finish my mask on time, at least, not to a degree I was pleased with. I painted over it again to somewhat smooth over the texture of the plaster bandages and added some more spikes with air-drying fimo clay. Then another layer of gesso, pthalo green paint over, and finished it off with a layer of spray-on lacquer. The 'tattoos' were a final touch in permanent marker.

Then, with a lot of string, and two feather boas, I had to carefully sew on the ruff. It may still need a bit of padding on the back of the head to sit properly, but I think that can be taken care of by tying up my hair. I just need to find an alternative for the tail. I made a latex version which turned out a bit too hard, and the paint came off, which is sub-optimal... Gotta see when I can continue...

Art-Niks

I felt adventurous today.
The sun shone with such gusto that one could overlook all the frozen
puddles (and frozen extremities) as I made my way to the small
sidestreet, Oldenburger Strasse, what I would see as Moabit's shining
light of hope. I was happy to find that since my last visit there are a
couple of new shops and galleries there worth visiting. I chatted to
Suzanne Reed of Art-Niks for at least an hour about her lovely glass
creations and experiences in Germany.
The picture in this post is the ornament I purchased. I don't think the
photos really do it justice, the iridescent shard doesn't really come
through, but it's a mysterious piece. She also has some stained glass
pieces, but do check out the website, www.art-niks.com -or even better,
drop by and have a chat, take something home. You can even make requests.

Happy New Year!

Mom's Tiger Pendant

Last post I gave a sneak peek at the pendant I made out of FIMO for my Mom's birthday.
First of all the idea -One of my favourite paintings by my Mom (well, it was mixed media) was the Tiger abstract she did as part of a distance art course back when I was little:

Then I got busy with the FIMO...
I always work on the baking sheet, ready for putting everything in the oven. Light colours first, then working towards darker ones, being careful to clean the furrows in my fingertips whenever I change a colour, so as not to muddle the next one I use. I indented the white a bit to have a rough idea where what colour was supposed to go. I also use a small knife and a toothpick plus my nails to work the small parts and move and push them into place.

By the way, the creamy colour is flourescent ;]

There were some bits I just had to simplify... :}

Then comes my favourite part of any drawing, painting or creation -adding black. It makes colours pop and rounds off an image splendidly.

And last but not least, the finished pendant all strung up, ready to be sent off.


Oh yeah, if you like her work, check out my Mom's Redbubble site.

Edit: My Mom's painting has taken flight and was part of the 2013 Nato Tiger Meet in Norway as artwork on a Gripen fighter jet. Photos here and here.

Happy Halloween

Can't have Hallowe'en without some jack-o-lanterns... These babies
were carved a bit late, but for my first try, I'm pretty happy with
them... Next year I promise to be a bit better organised. ;]

 

A Sneak Peek...

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In the meantime...

...I was actually industrious enough to finish off this sketch for Ingmar. I've been wanting to make him a new desktop image for a good year ...or two, and now it's there and looks pretty swish with his Ubuntu, which has transparency settings on some of the windows, meaning this picture shines through a sea of code. :}