Paper Mache and Blue Birds of Happiness

I've been doing a lot of work on a couple of larger pieces (which I will happily share with you when they are both done) but decided that I needed a bit of a break and so decided to try my hand at a paper mache budgie.

Years ago, we had a little budgie that we named Oliver.  The first time that I ever saw him was when I went to a breeders home and as he lifted a little bowl that was sitting on the kitchen counter, a little pin-feathery head popped up over the rim and two little black eyes stared fearlessly at me.  I didn't get to take him home that day because he was still a baby and needed his mom, but a few weeks later, he joined our family and was there for the next eleven years.

He tasted our dinners, harassed the dogs and entertained us with his charming little feathered presence.  And on his last day, I sat and cradled him for the hours it took him to move back to the source of creation as his little flame slowly flickered out.

Ever since then, I have loved budgies and this little sculpture of paper mache  is a tribute to all those wonderful little birds.  I hope you enjoy!

Even Paper Mache Can Say 'Wish You Were Here'

This blog is going to be about my art, my garden and anything else that interests me....but mostly about my art.  And these days, the art I'm choosing to play with is paper mache but it's not the craft of old, made with wheat flour and strips of newspaper.  While that's a fun thing to do when you're a kid I'm trying for a little more of a 'fine art' feel and hoping that the objects that I create convey just a little of my sentiments or tell a story or suggest a new way of looking at things.  I hope you enjoy looking at my offerings here and I'd be delighted to hear from you about whatever it is that floats your boat in the 'creating' department.

This first piece is entitled:  Wish You Were Here

I don't usually like naming my art, maybe because I have no imagination in that regard and everything that I come up with sounds either odd, or pretentious or downright lame.  But that name just seemed appropriate for this piece.  The lady is about 8" high and she is kneeling beside a dodo bird.  I've kept the colors bright and my brush strokes rather simple and obvious.  I'm not attempting to make realistic people or animals, although they have to 'look right' if you know what I mean.  I think I'm more trying to share visual ideas then to make a technically perfect, to scale creature.  It's all about the idea and not the technique.

This lady and bird are Creative Paperclay over a wire armature and while they were each built and painted separately, one of the last things I did was to physically connect them so that they appear as one piece.  This makes it much simpler to paint the pieces which is in itself not a simple process either (or maybe it is, depending on how you think of it) as numerous layers of semi-transparent paint are applied.  I think this gives the colors a depth that a single color wouldn't.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy looking at her and her new found, long-lost friend.