Seeing Green!

HAPPY DAY AFTER ST. PATRICK'S DAY! 

Good Morning Everyone. Hope your week was great and that your weekend was even better!

Been fairly busy this past week......

Forrest is almost (tired of hearing that yet? I am) complete. All that's left for him now is the hair on his head. YAY! He's looking damn good! :) His face has been painted and sealed and epoxied to his noggin. I must say that I am THRILLED with how he is coming along.
Ok, let's see now....
I did a flat, all over color of Lemon Lime. Then I dry brushed Chromium Oxide Green. Then I dry brushed Metallic Aquamarine. From there I 'splattered' (old school - used a toothbrush) a mixture of Titan Buff and Taupe (little brown spots). And for the finale, I 'splattered' Halo Blue-Gold. I then did two coats of matte Mod Podge to seal it. He looks extremely forest-y! LOL! You can see his progression in the following photos....

 

Forrest's skin tone colors

 

Lemon Lime base coat

 

dry brushed Chromium Oxide Green

 

dry brushed Metallic Aquamarine

 

'splattered' mixture of Titan Buff and Taupe (hard to see)

and 'splattered' Halo Blue-Gold

 

Forrest - waiting on his hair   :)

 

 I have picked out the materials for the newest project (the giveaway). I'm doing "Wee Stuffies". I will be adding them to my Etsy (as soon as I get it going) along with Harley and Forrest. I have gotten some of the bodies for the Wee Folk done. They are looking really cute. :) I want to finish the bodies and then I will begin working on their heads. Not quite sure of how I want to accomplish the heads yet.....have a few ideas running thru my head. Lots of collisions and mash ups there. LOL! Want a peek? Awww, come on now, you know you do! :)

 

this one.....

 

and this one were the first two I put together

 

I liked them so much I pulled more material to make more

 

headless Wee Stuffies! Oh, the carnage of it all! LOL!

We had dinner with the neighbors yesterday. It was nice. Amy made stew and pulled pork, beans and chips. And bread - THAT FREAKIN' BREAD! It is so good! She brought it out all warm and toasty. They even broke out the real butter to slather on top. I ate far too much again!  This was a welcome dinner for her brother, Albert and his girlfriend, Janet. They drove in from Pennsylvania. We hung out and enjoyed the wonderful weather. A fire was made and then Sally and Amy decided to play 'quarters'. Which quickly evolved into 'pong'. I had a few Sprite and Strawberry Schnapps. Yummy! It's nice being able to enjoy ourselves and not having to worry about driving anywhere. :) My daughter and her friend even hung out for a while. Connie B came too. It was a really nice evening. 

I was reading this past week that people prefer reading black on white. So, I change the blog to be black letters on a white background. This was not easy. Being that I am a visual artist it was a hard decision to change the look of my blog. Since the beginning of my blog I have used a black background as part of 'the look' of my blog. I liked the aesthetics of the flow......but I didn't want everyone to not be able to read my posts...so, there you have it. What do think of the new white window? Does it make it easier to read? Let me know if it helped or not. 

I'm also thinking of doing a daily post (on a certain day) of a specific topic. Kind of breaking things up a little. Like doing updates of Forrest on Tuesdays or the Wee Stuffies on Saturdays. Something along those lines. Let me know what you think about this idea or if you think I should just continue to post everything in one lump sum like I've been doing. 

I am currently thinking about 'the rules' for the next giveaway. Since the last one didn't go quite the way I had it in my head. I will post them shortly so that everyone can get involved. Keep your eye out - wouldn't want anyone to miss it!  :)

I see we have a new member too! 

Hello and Welcome to Veronika! You can see her creations here. She has some really cool critters! 

Well, my friends, I do believe that's all the news that fits. Time to make a grocery list and go shopping. yippee. Can you tell how excited I am to go grocery shopping? BLAH!

Be Good, Be Safe, Be Happy!!

TTFN

p.s. - 29 members and 105 posts. The momentum is building!

 

 

 

 

I Feel So.......

Accomplished!
Well, kinda, sorta, maybe. Almost.
Nah, it's been a good weekend!
I hope yours has been good too!

Worked in the yard. Got the fence completed! Yay! Yippee! Hurray!
Looks pretty damn good too! Put up pickets to go with the arbor that I had built. Added a 4x6 post in the middle for the bird feeder. I am really happy with the way it turned out. Got the brick in place across the front...to keep the rain from washing away the dirt underneath. I can let my 'buppies' out without them leaving the yard or all the neighborhood dogs coming into my yard. It's really nice! The only thing that is left to do is..... power wash it and seal it. That will be done when the porch gets done. It will all match. I just have to wait for it to get warm and stay warm. Finished it not a minute too soon....it's supposed to rain tomorrow. So it will now be full of all that wonderful red Georgia clay. I'm excited....yeah, right.

 

gotta pressure wash and seal it and hopefully get some grass to grow

I worked on Forrest too! I am really excited about how he's looking. I got his eyes and horns painted. And I must say they look great! For his eyes I used Primary Yellow, Chromium Oxide Green, Yellow Ochre and Halo Blue-Gold. Little lines over a base of black. Then for the pupil I used Copper Beads in a Bottle. It's a paint that beads up and 'domes' over. For his horns I used Titan Buff and then dry brushed Taupe over it. I painted #2's horns while I was waiting for #1's to dry. I used Titan Buff and then dry brushed Yellow Ochre and Taupe over the top. Then I sealed his eyes and horns with two coats of gloss varnish. Now I have to decide the color scheme for his face. I think I'm going to stay with the greens. Maybe some browns....a few blues and yellows I think. Gotta stay in the Forest Faun theme. Anyway, here's some photos so you can see for yourselves.....

 

first coats of gesso...white and black (still wet)

 

eye colors - Primary Yellow, Chromium Oxide Green, Yellow Ochre and Halo Blue-Gold

 

the two of them together...you can see both of their horns

 

a close up of Forrest's eyes. you can see the 'bead' and the gloss 

This afternoon my neighbors brought me trees! There are two out front. And then I planted three more on the side. For the life of me I can't remember what kind they are. They're just little bitty things right now. But they will look nice when the grow. Too bad that doesn't happen faster. LOL! I have some pretty damn good neighbors.

And....I got my plants repotted today too! They needed larger pots. They are doing so well and growing so fast. My Mom would be proud of me. I haven't manged to kill them off. My Mom didn't have a green thumb... she was just green. She could walk into a room and all the plants would perk up. Don't laugh, it's true. The women in our neighborhood used to bring their dying plants to my mother and she would bring them back a week later looking better than they ever did. My Mom was the woman who passed out clippings to everyone that visited the house. You'd never know she had cut any of her plants. The house always looked like a terrarium. I miss her an awful lot. Here's a photo of the bay window with the birdhouse terrarium and the newly potted plants....

 

the two big ones on the floor were in the pots above them...a little cramped

 I didn't get anything done on my doublet this weekend. I did manage to get some more muslin while I was out. So I guess that counts for something. :) I also picked up the material I'm going to use for Forrest #2. Ssshhhh.....it's a secret. I have some plans for him! I think I may pour one more of each....white and black. Then I will destroy the mold (sniff, sniff. boo-boo lip). I am certain that the two I have will make it to Etsy. But I want them to be OOAKS. Wish me luck! Harley is sitting in the corner starring at me now......I think he's ready for Etsy. I just have to sit down (find the time) and create an account and get everything set up. By the way, thank you to those of you who helped me decide between Etsy and Ebay. 

I do believe that's everything for now. 

Have a fantastic week! Hope it's creative!

Be Good, Be Safe, Be Happy!

TTFN

p.s. - 28 members (nobody new this time. bummer!) and 104 posts. It's creeping along. :)

 

 

 

Mid week crisis....or not.

Good Evening All!

Hope you are having a pleasant week......
Now that 'Humpday' is here (and just about gone) it can only get better. Right? I hope so! The last couple of days have been truly trying days. My resolve, my sleep pattern and my patience have all been tested. I am hoping that tomorrow will prove to be a better day, since I don't think that any of the previous can stand much more. :) Whew! That was a help. Letting it out seems to have helped some what. Thanks for listening! LOL!

Well, I was going to wait until this coming weekend for an update but I think I will share now....
Even though there's not a whole lot to share. I've managed to get a little work done on Forrest and started on the doublet (manikin) in between working on the fence. I've had to put in two posts (4 x4's) with cement and am working on the third one now. Need more materials but have been at work late due to issues with our new phone system. Came home in the dark tonight....no outside work today. Blah!

I've gotten Forrest poured and pulled. Two versions. One white (cream) and one black. I have worked on cleaning them up, best I can with scissors and x-acto knives. In the process of moving from the garage to the basement room I have managed to misplace the utility box with all the attachments to my dremel. I am so irritated with myself right now.  I haven't been able to clean up all the fine lines and the edges on Forrest and it is driving me crazy! I did a 'test fit' and it's quite amusing. :) On to the photos....

 

the two sides of Forrest....i have plans for both of them

 

test fit of the black head....not too shabby!

 

then i slapped some fur on his head, just to get an 

idea.....LOL!!! he looks like a lil' ol' balding man.

he made me giggle!

I have been asked what I am planning for my manikin.....even been told I should sell it as 'art'. Hhhhhmmm.

But that was not the purpose for this poor thing. However, I will have to say that it is working out wonderfully for it's intended purpose.......I started to lay out the pattern for my doublet earlier this week as well......and after getting the front quarter panel done realized that I was out of muslin. Not a good thing. So now I have to make a trip to the fabric store (as well as the home improvement store). This is as far as I have managed to get with the doublet....

 

my manikin supporting the front quarter panel of 

my doublet. April is racing towards me at blinding speed

My daughter came home from California this past Friday. What a freaking day that was.....

As we were getting ready to go to the airport to pick her up (her flight was three hours late) we had storms hit that produced tornadoes.  So I went to the airport by myself while my wife drove into the storm to get our daughter-in-law and grandchildren. Half way to the airport my daughter texted me to say they were still sitting on the runway. I was overjoyed. yippee. Got to the airport and waited for about an hour for her plane to get in. Then had to wait almost another hour for them to finally get her luggage up the conveyor. Four planes, all late, on one carousel. What a mess! I had to take the truck (since my wife had the car) to pick her up. No sooner did we get on the highway then it started raining. With her luggage in the back of the truck. Again...yippee. Finally got home just after midnight. I was so glad to be home. All things considered it could have been a lot worse....glad it wasn't and that everyone was safe. Found out the following morning that the tornado had hit less then 10 minutes up the road from my son's house. On top of that they spotted one from the grocery store that he was working at. Again, I am glad that no one got hurt. Needless to say, it was a long night. 

Well, I guess that's all the updates.....Forrest, manikin and fowl weather. Hopefully the remainder of the week will be not so dramatic. :)

Seems I have a new member as well this week....

Welcome to Siwari. You can visit her blog here. She has really adorable animals! I am glad you stopped by!

Til next time....

Be Good, Be Safe, Be Happy!

TTFN

p.s. that's 103 for the posts and 28 members. Closer and closer. :)