365 Day 61

really starting to come together!

Early this morning I painted on the first layer of face/eyes/chest/hands.

















waiting for Matt...he's on his way



















Matt brought over the frame for the cart. It FIT!!!
No adjustments/cutting needed!












Matt will come back in a few days to attach the frame to the cart but first I have to do more layers of plaster cloth to the surface of the cart and make a tail.

365 Day 60 -- part two

basic idea is still there, but with a new direction

First, though -- LOOK at these way cool little bins I got today for a buck apiece at Michaels. And see, I haven't abandoned the Tookies. They are sorted into colors for hair/soft edges. I should be able to finish them and ship them to Art-o-mat HQ by the weekend. fingers crossed





Okay. Matt is working on the wood frame/trim part for the cart at his house. So I got started on the repair plaster cloth so it could get a chance to dry.

I know that it probably looks like the cat-creature is standing in snow, but I am going more for a cloud-or-a-blanket look...not sure which. Hopefully it will start to look better as it gets closer to being done. I started the plaster cloth work at 11 p.m....finished up at 12:54 a.m. It might need another layer or two tomorrow. My fingers are too pruney to go any longer tonight. And my back hurts...whine, whine, whine.



working on the floor of the cart and doing leg repairs














face placement by Matt from my drawing (I was too nervous) -- I will still tweak it

















cloud/blanket surface of cart (not snow)











a tired cat-creature rolling away...enough for today

365 Day 60 -- part one

attaching the cat-creature to the cart

Things are going much better today. I am no longer sleep deprived and Matt came over to help me get the cat-creature attached to the cart. He is working on some trim pieces for the cart and will maybe be able to come by later this evening and add them so that I can get back to finishing up.

I need to do more plaster cloth now that we needed to drill into the legs. I think I will make the top of the cart plaster cloth-y as well.










Screwing down the flanges to the cart.



















Mixing the two-part epoxy.



















Setting the cat-creature onto the flanges & pipes.












Drilling the hole for the gap filler.












Shooting in the gap filler.



















The first leg was amusingly accidentally overfilled. You should have seen it before we cleaned it up...LOL

365 Day 59

another all-nighter

Man. Last night turned into one of those ridiculous all-nighters again. Where you lose track of time and then you have to get up reeeeally early so you just say "heck with it -- I will just stay up" and then things start to get blurry and then it is daylight and you are meeting up with your sister for coffee but you take an hour's nap and feel a little better and then you go and run errands (I know at some point during the blur that was today, Juana and I were at LIFT, I changed the art in the Art-o-mat machine and we went to the hardware store) and then when you get home and your kitten sits on you and starts some "purr therapy" and you start to relax and then before you even know it you apparently finally fall asleep and then you wake up and it is dark outside and the only light on inside is the tv and you don't know if it is 6 in the morning or 6 in the evening and then it is suddenly 10:30 p.m. and you're like "oh NO...was the DVR set for my shows?!?" and then you go "crap -- did I post to the blog???"...you know...one of THOSE days.

ANYway...at some point (technically) very early today I drew over print outs of Piece #1 so I could get an idea of what the tuxedo cat-like creature is supposed to look like...it made sense at the time. Whether I can pull this off in time is a whole different question.

365 Day 58

finger puppet progress ... and thinking about things



Yay -- the last 29 Tookies got their side seams today.










Now I just need to do everybody's "hair" and add the soft bottom edge.














It sounds like a lot, but since all of the boxes are already labeled it isn't so bad. Here is a shot of the bin of 100 in-progress Tookies.
















I have been playing with color combinations and patterns for the last few days. This guy has been plaster-colored or gesso-colored for so long it is very strange to see him actually start to get some real color.



















I think I am going to try to make him into a tuxedo cat-like creature with stripey socks.





Now here comes the thinking part.

As I have said in an earlier post, the idea of "Piece #1" has been in my head for a long time. I was intending to submit the piece to the toy-themed show. I'm not so sure now. Yes, the deadline for submissions is this coming Saturday. I could finish it enough to take good pictures of it and take the submission materials to the gallery.

But I am not so sure I am ready yet. I guess this is what comes from not having a whole lot of showing-your-work experience. Intimidated isn't really the word I am looking for. And I'm not afraid of the very real possibility of it not being juried in...if it is not accepted, oh well.

It is hard to pinpoint what it is exactly that I am feeling. I think it has something to do with "what if the piece is juried in and then it doesn't perform well during the play sessions".

I am going to keep working and see how I am feeling by Thursday and Friday...maybe I will get over this by then. No matter what, I will complete this piece -- I am just not sure I will submit it for consideration into the show.