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!

Will the Paper Mache Lady and Her Giraffe Friend Please Stand Up!

My art projects have always tended to be semi-complex and this paper mache doll and giraffe are no exception.  My style requires a lot of thinking ahead as each part is made separately, painted and then attached to one another for a piece that is pretty sturdy considering they're made of paper and wire.

So here we are, I've finally finished my lady and the giraffe that she's befriending and they are so cute!  I just love them and I think you'll enjoy them too.   As you may notice, she's giving the giraffe a Peace sign as in 'let's make peace with Mother Nature' kind of idea and the design on her clothing suggests the great African plains that are the home of these amazing animals.

And speaking of amazing, did you know that a giraffes tongue is 2 feet long, their hearts are also 2 feet long and weigh about 20 pounds and the inside of their mouths is quite hard which makes it possible for them to eat even the thorny plants that grow in their region.  They only need a maximum of two hours of sleep per day and they do that standing up.  I know, just what you need, more trivia to clutter up the old noggin, but hey, you never know when somebody will want to pull out the old Trivial pursuit game right?  Now if 'giraffes' come up, you're ready!

But back to the art, this piece is 23" high and is made up of paper mache over a wire armature with a thin top layer of Creative Paperclay.  The paper mache is from the recipe that Jonni Good has made available to us on her website, http://ultimatepapermache.com/paper-mache-clay.  I've made a couple changes to that recipe, the most important of which is adding 1/4 cup of salt which means that this clay will keep in your fridge for up to two months (just in case you get so busy with the stuff of day to day living that you just can't get back to your art, no matter how hard you try!).

Because the home-made paper mache dries a little rough for smaller pieces, I like to use the Creative Paperclay to get the smoothness of my lady's skin as well as work the tiny details of her face.  It also sands so beautifully.  On the giraffe, there is also a layer of the Creative Paperclay but I didn't bother trying to get the fingermarks out of that (by sanding) as an animals hair coat is naturally a little more textured than human skin would be.

So there you are folks, 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.