Practice cast

Practice cast in Resin.

Jackrabbit Marketplace

I went looking for this old post from 2011 but it was gone.  I love these colors so Im going to make this piece again and keep it for myself.  The original is at jackrabbit marketplace.  Cool site...Check it out

LINDA.LINDA.LINDA oh how sneeky you are.. I got your number girl

So most of you know that Linda Mcnulty and I went to Idyllwild to teach her Santos cage doll class.  We had fun, we laughed, we cried.. We both had a great experience.  Unbeknownst  to me Linda had an underlying DIABOLICAL plan in the works all along.  I went to Idyllwild, first for the Delicious watermelon, and secondly to spend time with my great friend Linda.
Linda is cunning. she works her magic on you and you don't even know it is happening!!  All was well after Idelwill, for a few days.  Linda encouraged me to order a few boxes of sculpy to practice with...this is where she knew she had me!  Why could I not see it?
   A few days later my box arrived.  I can tell u exactly when it arrived,  It came to my door Thursday around 2 PM. My mother heard about this and arrived promptly at my door with other supplies/toaster oven. (Linda must have called her!) Boy that Linda is sneaky! After dinner, I opened a new box and started to play. I have not been able to put it down! Its like a drug.  I have watched the sun come up (and go down) over the last 3 days;  I am silly from sleep deprivation, and it just makes me want to do more sculpting!  Linda did such an amazing job teaching form and technique, I have been able to replicate it at home.  I just took the last piece out of the over and it is cooling.  If I I go to bed right now, I could sleep 2 hours, get up and start working on it again! 

So Linda, your seedy little plan has worked, I'm totally hooked on sculpting forms.  So I will task you with coming up with a way of dealing with all the sculpts I will soon have!

Here are a few samples:

 Don't worry about his infected ear.  I'm a nurse,he/she IS ALREADY ON an ANTIBIOTIC.  In my haste to get them out of the oven,I broke THEM OFF.  I attempted to fix with apoxie cast. Looks gross but I think it will work

 THIS GUY IS A TRAGEDY, I PAINTED HIM WHITE spray paint TO get a good canvas TO WORK FROM... IT WAS A BIG MISTAKE.  Still wet and tacky after 2 days.  Looks like S#^T also, MORAL: don't use spray paint on raw sculpy!

The Following Pictures are for ADULTS ONLY

Here sits the biggest tragedy of all.  This is what happens around 2am after 3 days of no sleep and huffing Sculpy!

You have been warned

I like the sculpt.  I just lost my mind.  I watched 10 painting videos (By pros) and thought it looked so easy.  I did not however follow there professional advice.  I did this with dull broken colored pencils.  They may have mentioned the importance of having a razor sharp point,  but that seemed extraneous information at the time.

So there you go. 

Lindas Master plan to have me live alone in a horded house with nothing but bad sculpts is well on its way!!! 

I love you Linda, What a gift you have given me.  I can use this in my jewelry, mixed media/recycling And ASSEMBLAGE  SO THANK YOU FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY EMPTY SCULPTY BOX

I hope all the girls are having as much fun sculpting as I am.  Set up a yahoo group so we can swap tricks and technique.  

Ice Resin doll

you can see the entire post here on the Ice Resin Blog site.  

Art Unraveled Charm Swap

  Art Unraveled was the  first Art Retreat I ever attended. 

 At the end of 2010, I set a goal for myself to become more involved in the larger art community.  I have been an artist (I use that term loosely!) for 21 years but did not mingle much outside of my small community.  My desire to reach out included blogging  ETSY (don't even check!) and to attend art retreats. 

 I spent the first part of 2011 writing a few posts on my blog and"thinking" what else I could do.  Mid year, I discovered the website for AU and took a chance.  I signed up for classes with people I already knew. (big Chicken)  and spent most evenings in my room.  The one night I ventured out, I met Rice freeman Zachery.  I know, how lucky could I get, the woman who wrote the Book on Art Retreats!!  This chance meeting was just what I needed.

 (rices post/  My post)  

I have since attended a few Art Retreats, but AU holds a special place in my heart.  I met amazing artists, I laughed, I cried and I came home with treasures I will cherish forever.

{Rice's Aprons and the best SLK necklace EVER! (Olive calls it "THE NECKLACE")}

ANYWAY...

AU 2013 is fast approaching and although I am not able to attend in person, I wanted to participate in some way.  So I signed up for the charm swap.

The Theam was "the Artist" the challenge was to make something that represented your work.  As I could not cast 50 animals in Ice Resin, I went with enameled disks.   The tentative count was 52 charms so that is what I started working on.  

 I made 104 domed bronze disks.  I enameled them, made Ice Resin paper, bronze head pins and painted paper to create my charm.   I completed 45 charms all together.

  

 The turquoise enamel is so much better in person than in the pix. 

Some of the Ice Resin paper is made with some German Text given to me in a workshop, some is done with  delicious linen French paper from 1726 and some is from a 1930's encyclopedia.  

I attached jump rings and a Moo card to each charm.  They are all wrapped up tight and ready to send out 

I sat in silence creating these charms and thought back to my experience at AU in 2011. Each charm is sent with love and creative wishes for the recipient.  

    I cant wait to see what I get in return. I will post pix as soon as they arrive.  

Pray for Idyllwild

From This:

To This:



  

Pray for Idyllwild residence and its surrounding areas. This is a wonderful little art community and my heart aches for them. 

I came across this gem in a small room off the library at Idyllwild school.  The piece was made by Debra Frittz.  Idyllwild is chalked full of precious art like her.  I so hope these treasures are spared along with all its amazing people.

a few more pix of Idyllwild

Linda in an outdoor painting class at Idyllwild.  

A view of the "tent"  Ive started on a doll using this tent as inspiration.  I will use the mad skills Linda taught on sculpting and incorporate the beautiful form of the billowing cloth.  This was really the only time we stopped to enjoy our surroundings.  We were in such a rush to get to class, get to meals, get to airports....we had little time to just be..  But for a few small moments, we (well I) was quiet and just breathed in the beauty that was Idyllwild.  

Back from teaching at Idyllwild

Trying to recoup form teaching at Idyllwild in California.  linda mcnulty graciously invited me to be her assistant in her Santos making class.  We had a blast

The students were amazing

There work was spectacular.  Here are a few examples

The artist in class were so talented and produced amazing works. Thanks to all the ladies who took the class and allowed Linda and I to share this amazing experience with you.

Idyllwild is a private high school for the arts.  It has an amazing staff, campus and students.  The kids were so fun and it made me long to be a teen again.  Well maybe not emotionally!!!  But to be young and attend a school that fosters growth in creativity...what a blessing.  The setting was breathtaking.  Above is a picture of where graduation is held.  And Im told, a favorite hide away where young love blooms!( and staff patrols frequently!)  Linda and I even caught a gimps of a zombie (or a victim of a horribly kiln explosion....we couldn't decide)