Merry Christmas!

Wishing all of you a very blessed Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Full Speed Ahead, Christmas is Coming

Birdie has come a long way this week!After a nasty post- Thanksgiving weekend of illness that left me drained and stuck to the couch, I jumped back into work gratefully. 

Her head was covered last week, the first tentative paint layers laid down quickly.

She waited hopefully on the studio table through the long weekend of illness, then received what eventually I had to declare as the final touches. 

They say a good Artist knows when to stop... well, sometimes I wish for a better one than I to come in, lay their hand on my shoulder and say "Okay, stop." I know the tweaking with shading goes on way too long, and  only the prospect of attaching the hair spurs me on to the next step.

I'm using pure undyed Tussah silk this time, lovely to work with.

So the process begins, not as continuous this time as the silk is delicate and I want the silicone to dry somewhat between layers. 

Meanwhile the skinning has begun, though I'm sort of discombobulated this time around.

In the past, I have finished all layers of nylon skin before I even begin to sculpt the head. 

I'm going by a philosophy that is similar to a grass cutting tip I heard once. " Always mow in different patterns so that the grass does not become tired and unhealthy"

It's good to shake up the order of any process when one is working on the TENTH sculpture! 

Birdie will be number ten since 2006!

I probably should have named her Decca, since number nine was christened "Nona", but where would I go from there?

So the next step will be joining head and body, always a tricky maneuver but one I hope to get finished soon. Christmas preparations tend to make everything else fade into the background and suddenly it's January!

Next time I hope to show much more progress on Birdie and some updates on Grapefruit Baby and the newly named Mary Jane, a small African American child from the 1950's.

Happy Creating until then!