EHAG Emporium Saturday Night

Sneak peek at my piece being offered tomorrow night, July 31, at 9 p.m. on the EHAG Emporium. A little Halloween fellow is in love with his little pumpkin doll and holds him close to his heart.

Hope you like him!

Laurie

"Lord Lafsalot"

I am painting like mad this week and have managed to complete a few figures. Last night I put the finishing touches on a new skelly, "Lord Lafsalot", dressed in his Halloween finery. "Lord Lafsalot" is one of many figures I'm creating that are dressed to attend the "2010 Pumpkin Ball" in my little Halloween dreamland. You'll be seeing lots of top hats, fancy treat buckets, scepters and other items carried by this silly group of characters in the upcoming weeks.

Some of the pieces will be available on upcoming EHAG Emporium updates between now and September 30, and the rest of the group will be going to Ghoultide Gathering (October 2, in Michigan). If you have not looked at the Ghoultide website yet you can click on the link in the left column of this blog or simply click on Ghoultide Gathering in the last sentence and it will take you there. The artists are amazing and I'm humbled to be amongst such talent!!

Fall is always a good time for a trip...right?!!! Think about it and if you love Halloween it will be a great place to be-- PROMISE!

Enjoy the day and happy creating!
Laurie

Two Long-Legged Boys Available on SpookyTime Jingles Friday Night!!

Hmmmm...a little pastel coloring and some Halloween mischief will be available Friday night (the 12th) at midnight EST, (11 pm Central, 10 pm Mountain, 9 pm Pacific) from Monkey-Cats Studio.

"Purkins Goodnight" and "Winston Wabbit" will be searching for new homes to keep them warm (poor Winston even has his bunny slippers on!). They are tired of the Plains' winter this year and they are hoping they can find a location with Spring beginning to warm the air to help uplift their spirits. Do you know of such a place?


I have seen some of the "sneak peeks" being shown by the other artists of SpookyTime Jingles this month and it promises to be a visual delight to tempt collectors!!! Don't miss out!

Happy shopping Friday night!!!
Laurie

"Winston" Is Done, Now On To Little Squash Head

I finished "Winston" yesterday after painting his bucket, Easter egg, stockings and bunny slippers, and putting German glass glitter on his bow tie. Here he is amongst his works-in-progress buddies!!

Those silly slippers took me hours to paint, but "Winston" likes the look so isn't that really all that matters? After all, you can't name something like "Puff" and "Fluff", and not give them some detail and character.

I also decided to carry the circle motif from Winston's body onto the top border of his Easter bucket, and then painted a coordinating egg. I had some lovely Bethany Lowe tinsel that matched the German glass glitter on Winston's bow tie so I used it like Easter grass to give a cushion for the painted egg to be placed in. I think it all helps pull his look together.

"Winston" is now a happy little wabbit!!

Below, is a new little squash head I worked on last night. So much work yet to be done on him, but his head just clicked for me and that made me a very happy painter. He hasn't told me his name yet so I will have to introduce you at a later date.

We have sunshine today and we are suppose to be in the 40s so I am thrilled!! Off to the studio to go soak up some of that sunshine!

Have a great day!
Laurie

Bunny WIPs

They aren't much yet....just heads on body forms, no arms or feet to speak of, but I thought I would share with you that the bunny "wabbits" are coming next month. They will all have a smile, of course, and baskets with eggs and stories to tell so as I mix clay and watch the little faces evolve I'm having a thought that I need to make one big Easter egg piece of some sort. Hmmm.....the wheels are turning.

Not to worry, the vampire wabbit is a vegetarian too, just like all of my good little vampires and counts.

Stay tuned...more to come!

Have a great day!
Laurie

SpookyTime Jingles Update!!!

Where is the time going to? It can't possibly be time for another SpookyTime Jingles update on Saturday night can it?!!!! Yes, it is time and luckily I managed to get some pieces done this month in the middle of the Christmas tree farm madness!!! Not everything I wanted, not everything I thought I would get done (I have exceeding high expectations), but I did manage to produce 4 pieces for the update!!! (This seemed to be a really SHORT month!)

First, is "Standish the Pumpkin Elf," that you already had a preview to in an earlier blog. "Standish" is one of Santa's "go to guys" at the North Pole and he is a Pumpkin boy loving his elf costume!!! He is shown grinning with pride and holding a paper mache teddy bear and paperclay candy canes. Hours and hours in sculpting and painting the hat and those boots, but so worth it!!! The jingle bells on his hat and boots are actually paper mache balls painted to look like bells.


Then, there are the jingles for the month of December, "Topper", "Siegfried and Bubo" and "Tosser"....the 3+ snowmen from Monkey-Cats!!!


"Topper" is a unique piece that functions as a tree topper, but I also designed him so he can sit on a shelf. He is the shortest and smallest of the three, but he looks adorable on top of a Christmas tree.


Next, is "Siegfried" with his wise little snow-fellow companion, "Bubo". "Siegfried" loves this little stack of snowball goodness and carries him lovingly where ever he goes. "Bubo" may be small, but he is loyal and has kept Siegfried of a hot water more than once...which is really critical to a snowman!! You might say they are made of the same....stuff.


The final snowman in the group is "Tosser." Tosser is a guy's-guy, and has the throwing arm of a major league pitcher. He is known to always have a spare snowball concealed on his body somewhere (literally), and in an instant can toss a snowball with such accuracy that any challenger doesn't stand a chance. One good thing about "Tosser"...he never throws the first snowball.


I hope one of these new pieces finds a place in your heart! They will be available at midnight tomorrow night!!!!
Time sure is flying!
Laurie

Fa-la-la-la-la La-la-la-la

Well, I just had a pleasant surprise. I went to Flickr to upload my images and much to my surprise I found this lovely holly frame to put around my photos. It is cold outside, snow possibly on Sunday, holly frames available to "Christmas-up" the figures...all is good with the world. (It doesn't take much to make me happy!!)

Below is the finished Pumpkin-Elf, "Standish". I need my head examined for putting the hours into sculpting and painting his hat and boots, but I just couldn't resist. Unlike last month's "Elf in the Ornie", this hat doesn't have real jingle bells, these are made of paper mache and painted to look like bells.

"Standish" is another one of my Pumpkin Boys that loves all holidays. He doesn't deliver presents on Christmas day, but he does help Santa with the distribution side of things up at the North Pole. He checks the names and packaging of each gift (along with a crew of "elves", if you know what I mean *wink-wink*) so that Santa successfully delivers each child the correct toy and gift. It isn't like it use to be at the North Pole as they have even gone to bar coding! "Standish" takes his responsibility very seriously to assure that Santa doesn't disappoint the children of the world and is shown here holding a teddy bear (also paper mache) and candy canes (paperclay) to be packaged for....oops, that would let the surprise out!

"Standish" is one of the more dashing of the Lumina family members and is never seen without his full elf costume except when he takes his January vacation to the Caribbean....then it is strictly island shirts and shorts for this little guy.

"Standish" hopes as Christmas approaches that you have a joyous and loving holiday season and that he doesn't see your name on the naughty list!!

Have a great weekend!
Laurie

2 New WIPs

It has been a busy week in the studio making paper mache clay, making armatures for hats and then building the hats, building faces, making elf shoes and boots and making bodies. Below is my first ever Pumpkin Elf. He will be a crossover piece from Halloween into Christmas and comes with an elf hat with balls on the tips and elf shoes designed in the same manner. He carries a teddy bear and candy canes and I plan on painting him in striped stockings with a little ornamental vest. The figures don't have much of a personality punch at this point....that will have to come with the paint.

I also roughed in several snowmen this week. The little fellow below has a carrot nose and an over sized top hat. and two "stick" arms. I think he gets a scarf today... he needs it to break up that large body of his.

That's how I work. I sculpt, set a piece down, work on another, then look back on the piece I worked on earlier and let it tell me what it needs. That little bit of separation during the creative process is very necessary for me to keep moving forward in the design of the pieces.

That's this weeks peek into the studio and my artsy little mind.

Have a great weekend!
Laurie

The Christmas Count

Here is what has been occupying my time this week, the "Christmas Count". This is little Count Vacula, dressed in his finest Christmas attire carrying two sugar-free candy canes (he is such a health fanatic), and a little present for his sweetheart.


He is full of little details on his hat (striped hat-band and holly), his cape (dots and stars on the front, and holly and a swirled-mint button on the back), his vest (a swirl-mint button, matching trim and kerchief to the hat-band pattern), swirl-mint stud cuff links, 2 removable candy canes and shading to round his form.

He is hoping to sit down for a nice cup of herbal tea flavored by his candy canes with his sweety after she sees what the present contains. Because they are vegetarians, you guessed it, it has "carrots" inside!!!

Have a great weekend all!
Laurie

"Arachnie" Pumpkin Almost Done!!

I've been painting the last several days because I just wanted a mental break from the clay. I think it is something we all go through...wanting to sculpt when we should be painting or wanting to paint when we should be sculpting. I just like to change it up every now and then. I really think it helps the creative juices to address an idea when it is beckoning us to a particular piece. Below is the first in a number of new Halloween and Vine pieces, Little "Arachnie" Pumpkin. This fellow loves his spiders and is shown with an asymmetrical vest with a spiderweb design on one side with a scalloped edge, and a straight edge on the opposite side with a spiderweb kerchief. I'm thinking he needs bling on his little bow tie so German glass glitter will be added this weekend. I also want to do a little bit more on his lip area....it needs a little more definition in color.


Hope you liked the peek at this spider loving character....he tries to wear one everyday to go with his attire . (They do his tailor work after all!!)

Have a great weekend!
Laurie

Bertram Goodhue on STJ

Have you ever heard a name and you just liked it....well, that is what happened to me when I first heard the name Bertram Goodhue when I was in the 4th grade. Who was he? Well, he was an American architect and he designed the State Capitol building in Lincoln, Nebraska. I love that building with it's mosaics and murals and perhaps that is why I never forgot his name.

When I finished the lumina pumpkin figure below, the name Bertram Goodhue jumped in my head and wouldn't go away (no, I don't hear voices!!). So I decided his face was made up of "good hues" and certainly Bertram was a great name, so why not?!! The name seems to suit him for some reason.

Bertram is shown above with his spindly vein fingers holding onto his skelly bucket, and below you can see a close up. Lots of good little details on this piece.

Betram is going on SpookyTime Jingles this month. As part of supporting the Kearney Area Humane Society, 10% of his purchase price will be given to them for their good work in the name of his buyer.

Bertram thanks you for your consideration. Again, this is the 1st Anniversary for SpookyTime Jingles (updates at 12:00 a.m. on the 13th) and there are some great pieces for this anniversary so stay up late on the 12th to see all of the sweet and spooky goodness!!

Have a great day!
Laurie

May Halloween WIPs

I'm still working in clay all of this week, but here are some of the works in progress I have going for next month's STJ update and for creating some type of inventory for three fall shows I am participating in (I need my head examined). The heads of the figures are pretty well completed with their little smiles or grins, they have their bow ties and hats, and one figure has her arms and hands (the rest are to be completed this week in between head construction on other figures).


The 2 cat heads are some of my first smaller versions of my Monkey-Cats and of course the boys were too busy to be bothered with modeling for me over the weekend. Fortunately, they both come to me when I call them by name so I would get an occasional glimpse as they arrived for their head rub and drink of studio water when they weren't napping. Silly little creatures and the clay head with the broader grin is Elwood...such a comic and I swear he smiles!!! He brings me his chenille worm (chenille pipe cleaner he took from my supplies) and if I ignore him he sticks it in my paint water---yuck!!! We have decided he likes the way it feels in his mouth because he takes them to his water dish downstairs, his water dish in the kitchen and my paint water. He gets very excited when I rinse them and pull them through a towel to get part of the water out of them (yes, he has used up my entire package of chenille pipe cleaners, but I don't care because they bring him such pleasure).

There is also a moon figure with her scepter and Halloween bucket, two other celestial figures and a pumpkin head. I had a blast making collars and bow ties this past week so most of the figures have one or the other or in most cases they have both.

Well, I had better get my fanny in gear and get today's clay mixed up!

Have a great day and happy creating!
Laurie