Black Goblin Mask

Here is the finished mask from my post back in February. If you look closely you can see it in the February post off to the right of my desk, naked and waiting. It was a lot of fun, but certainly more time consuming than I remember paper mache to have been. Although perhaps I wasn't quite the perfectionist then that I am today!

I apologize for the lack of quality in the photograph. I took the picture practically on a whim and didn't bother to bring the thing into better lighting. I was just pleased that it was finished and snapped the shot. This mask was not created to be used. If you notice, there isn't anything attached to it for wearing. It really was meant to be a test piece. I had an idea in my mind and needed to get it out. Et voila!

The Perpetual Jester and Other Oddities

I have been working on this sun jester for... well... far too long! Every time I sit down to it I want to do more, paint more, sculpt more. I finally called the painting finished recently and glazed it. There! That part's done. But now more than just a jester, I am feeling that he needs hands. So... I am now sculpting hands and am creating the body in my mind. I have picked out the material for the clothing already. Very sparkly and very shiny. It is my goal to finish this charming fella, sometime, very soon I hope! In the previous post in the picture of my desk, behind the lamp, you can just barely see other unfinished friends of his. Including that dragon head that is still in the sculpting phase. I can't wait to see that one! I love working as I do. I love feeling that as I work, the piece is revealing itself to me. Instead of me commanding it to be something set in stone in my mind's eye. I let each creation work it's own magic as I go and often end up with something very different than I intended!

Here is another curiosity of sorts. I had this adorable little pig jester head and as I was about to add her little ruffle collar I stopped and felt that there was more to her... so much more. Hahahaha! Little did the little pig know she was destined for royalty! As a princess! She even has cute little white satin pantillons and pink satin shoes with little bows on top and a big pink bow on the back of her dress. (If ever I have a little girl some day she will be soo spoiled!)



Just as I was going to post her on my etsy shop I discovered that since these pictures were taken she has developed a large spot on her pink satin skirt! Argh! I'm not sure where it came from, how it got there, what it is, or even how to remove it! So perhaps she is meant to sit high in my studio and watch over me as I work the days away.

Funny, I remember after I finished her and showed her off to my brother in law, his response... "But you had a boy." Considering that this was right after Vincent was born, one might wonder as to my intentions. Nothing fowl about here. *honest*

Trigger Happy Camera Finger and a Little Paper Mache

I am exhausted! I have been trying all week to ready my jewelry for my etsy shop. http://www.candicewestberg.etsy.com/ I spent at least two hours today taking and editing pictures of only about two dozens items. Being such a perfectionist can be annoying at times, but I wouldn't give it up. And don't get me wrong, I'm only a perfectionist when it comes to my artwork.

My studio space is a mess!

I don't think another soul could find anything in artspace but I've got the map in my head and can't find anything if I ever I clean! *contended sigh* I love existing this way. (Of course, my Tony was pleased to finally move his things out of the studio space when we acquired a second room.) Truly, there should be a support group for partners of artists and craftfolk out there! I know of several men who would be more than happy to sit in a circle and yap about us! I've wandered again...

So I have more than enough photos of my jewelry. I took shots of them on pretty green moss then dangling down the side of a pillar of basalt then on a grey felted square and finally suspended in air. I will let you know when the pictures go live. I hope that will happen sometime this weekend. Cross your fingers!



I have also dug out my paper mache again. I have a hippocampus and a dinosaur that are lingering at an inbetween stage but will be beauties one day! Bored with the normal project (hippocampus... very normal... *grin* ) I contemplated combining a few more talents into this pile of sloppy newspapers and came up with something that is taking me longer than I had planned! The idea was to twist some basic balloon figures and cover them in this gloppy, flour, paper mess!





So, I made a dachsund and a flower and have been working on them for a couple of days already! Perhaps these items will simply decorate out Saturday Market booth this spring... Ah-ha! The perpetual balloon animal! Ooh, I just may have something there! I will post those photos this weekend as well. I'm so sorry for the delay in pictures, again, we have dial-up out here in the country and a super old computer that won't accept my digital camera hookups. So... one way or another, pictures eventually make their way here.