Magic is in the air...

Christmas time is here! OH MY GOSH!
Just to celebrate, here's a forest nymph who's ready for the yuletide celebration!
And some of my favorite North American birds, whisky jacks! (Not only do they have a fantastic name, but they are also very friendly and will land on your hand to eat seeds up in the snowy Canadian mountains…)

As for the technique, I'm still trying on Photoshop painting, and for this piece tried to emulate another artist's process. I think I learned a lot! Still got a ways to go, but step by step, right? :)

Let's Play in Leopard Print!

Today Franny and I went on a walking adventure around Old Town. But I had just been using my flatiron, flour (!), and enough hairspray to patch the ozone layer to try to get my hair looking like Elsa from Frozen. She's my Halloween costume this year, and I need to tease this normally whip-straight dark blonde mop into something marshmallow-white and floofy! Well, floofy might not be the right word. Fiesty? Yes. Fiesty.

Insert teasing comb. Ad nauseum. Now mix in enough flour to make my hair the envy of every polar bear. Snow white. Delicious.

The point is, I wasn't in the mood to shower (surprise surprise), but I couldn't go out in public looking like a wampa. So I threw one of my Grandma's old scarves on my head and called it passable.

THEN it was like "Well if we're gonna dress like crazy lunatics we might as well go all out!"
So the two of us had fun dressing up kinda wonky, then waltzed around Old Town Pasadena for about 3 hours just kickin' it.


Then it happened…we stumbled upon this dangerously good sale at Cotton On and I found the perfect match for my crazy outfit--a dolman-sleeve leopard print sweater. It was love, and it only cost $10.

So then I doodled up what I (wish I) looked like this afternoon. Teehee:

Drawing again? WHAAAAT?? And of course it's Chris Sanders who got me going...

Ok. I have no explanation as to why I got into a super intense drawing mood late this evening…after not picking up a pencil for months. Ah well, why question it?

Anyways, perhaps all it takes to get me into a creative mood is to copy two or three of Chris Sanders' exceptional sketches. That's what I did, then BAM! I wanna draaaaawww!

When I copy another artist's work, it's like drinking a large glass of their style. It's in me! I then draw until it drains out of me bit by bit. (Hopefully I retain SOMETHING…)
You can see that this first sketch is a lot more Sanders-y in it's style, proportions, subject matter (wink), etc.
The second one - the ballerina - is more me combining the Sanders influence with some other things in my artistic repertoire. More 'me' I suppose. Meh.

Enjoy!

5 o'clock and letting it all hang out...

Somewhere, somewhere, it's 5 o'clock and the work day has ended.

But for these carefree mermaids, the day was filled with exhausting play. So now they've swum out to a distant rock jutting out over the water to stretch out, untie those annoying seashell bras, and just spend some time not really caring about anything. Sounds great, eh?

Christmas in July

Ah the glory of old sketch books. Gloooooria gloria gloria in excelsis Deo as they say.
Here's more Christmas fun that emerged to remind me of what life is really about when I'm most bound to forget it…CHRISTMAS! No really, that's what life is really about.

Ok maybe that's a bit of a hyperbole but I'm trying to make a point. Ok?


Anyways,

Because that's how one feels upon smelling (yet another…) Bath & Body works candle entitled "Evergreen". It literally smells like Christmas tree mixed with someone's absolutely imagination-perfect log cabin in the snowy woods. Mmmmm…


Aaaand one last one inspired by Bath & Body Works (where I no longer work… *weeps*)

Cashmere Glow…anybody know it? A delectably warm and fuzzy blend of peach, vanilla, and a touch of musk. Basically like a dessert + warm blankie. Um, paradise? Well, definitely a LOT of people's idea of paradise. So yeah, she looks happy. What more can I say?

Birds of a Feather Gettin' Together!

My beautiful cousin, Gloria, just married the most fabulous over-sit-foot man ever…Phillip!
Together, they have way more spunk than the universe knows what to do with.
Understandably, they had to have an AMAZING wedding!
And they did. The entire reception venue was a hand-built "enchanted forest" complete with real bark lining the walls, a lighted entrance tunnel made of young evergreen boughs, and mossy accents to complete the ethereal picture.

I was recruited to make the cake topper--two little love-birds nesting together. (Gloria has always had a thing for Disney birds…)

Having discovered bread-clay as the next best thing to actually eating bread, I ventured forth:

And here's the gorgeous couple about to enjoy their birdie-topped cake amidst the enchanted greenery:

Bread and WHAT?

Start with:

Mix in some:

Mess around for a bit...

And you get:

A tiny figurine!

No for reals…bread + glue = awesome air-dry clay that's super malleable, dries hard, and is totally fun to use! Add some acrylic color on top of your sculpture, varnish it with some sculpey or liquitex glaze, and kaPOW! Instant figurine!
Sure beats paying an arm and a leg for the fancy-schmancy clay at the craft store! Sculpting, here I come!

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This particular sculpture was inspired by a particular CANDLE from Bath & Body Works (I know I know, it's out of control…but I don't work there anymore, so maybe I'll recover…maybe?). It's called "Mint Chocolate":



















…Might as well be called "heaven". It literally smells like a York patty. Tasty. Wintery. Refreshing. Mmmmmmm.

After smelling the candle, I drew this:

Yes, that's how I felt :)
Then, after discovering bread clay, I decided this gal needed to come to life in 3D, so she jumped off the page, rolled around in some paint and glaze, found herself a cute little Parisian cafe table to sit at, and plonked the whole setup on top of some crooked cobblestones to enjoy her Mint hot chocolate latte in the crisp winter air.

Perhaps my itch to sculpt came from seeing Chris Sanders, the incredibly talented creator of Lilo and Stich, come out with a new mermaid figurine. As a big fan of his sketches, I loved seeing how his art could come alive in 3 dimensions, yet stay true to the spirit and style of his original drawings! I had to try it for myself. I expect many more sculptures to come :)

Enjoy!