This week, I glued and ironed the pieces together, and now that it's all together, we have official measurements: 41 x 30.5"
Work also continues on the unicorn. On the one hand, I was so excited to have all the pieces last week, but there's still much to be done before it's finished -this week, lots of painting and drawing trying to match the grays and add the lights and darks to give it a more dimensional look.
 |
| It's subtle, but adding a dark wash to the back leg pushed it back, while adding lights and darks to the front leg pulls it forward. |
 |
| I also shaped and refined along the seams to help the pieces blend together - here you can see the finished (or close to finished?) seam moving in a rounded of diagonal from mid-lower left to upper right of the frame. |
 |
| patterns within patterns |
 |
| I also started toning and adding ink to the front, but the seams are not glued down yet as I think about the exact positioning |
Work also continues on the 2 x 4 ft block for Cultural Chaos: |
| Excited to start carving inside the tree (with my toes for scale). |
 |
| Trying to balance the larger view with the detail - I get pretty into carving the twigs - fun times, but also got to keep it moving to get it done on time. |
The last thing I did was something new - still in process, but potentially an exciting new direction.
A little background... I have been taking online courses (fingers crossed - for a certificate in graphics and animation). Last week I finished my second course, intermediate photoshop. It's funny, because this is a program I'm very familiar with (at least I thought I was :P ), but when I took the diagnostic test before starting the intro course, I barely passed - it's a complex program, and there was so (sooooo) much more for me to learn, and I'm glad I started with the intro course, because otherwise the intermediate one would have been way beyond me. As it was, I needed to study pretty hard, and I'm happy to say I passed! It's taken several months of studying to get to this point, and now I'm excited to start using the new skills right away.Now that my process has become a hybrid of digital and manual techniques, I wanted to try making some things for which the final process is digital, and I needed every bit of the recent studies to turn scans of my blocks and drawings into this lovely piece (custom brushes from blocks, adjustment layers, layer masks, smart objects, gradient masks, clipping masks...Eep!). The next step will be to have these digitally printed in a limited edition. (...onward!)
We like? O:)
On to creature updates -
This week Honey made her first trip to the conservation park with me!
 |
| Look at that face! I think it was a hit :). |
 |
| She also saw the pond for the first time (she went right in, as we can see by her muddy little legs, then had a blast running on sand for the first time.) |
 |
| Continuing to work on "family unity." |
 |
| Junior helping demonstrate the unicorn's pose |
 |
| ...and keeping my carving pillow warm. |
 |
| While Junior was assisting in the studio, my elegant Princess has been sticking close to her favorite (which happens to be the sometimes heated) blanket - is it me or do those eyes say - "You got a puppy, Human, I quit." (Or as I prefer to look at it - "she's thinking of retiring. " ;) ) After a decade of faithful studio assistance, if she wants to spend her senior kitty years getting lots of cuddles and brushing while napping on "her " bed and looking out the window at the birds, that sounds good to me. |
 |
| Look what bloomed in the garden this week :)! So cool right?! - Starry night petunias - art/flower love |
 |
| And we saw ducklings! (And my little Bear was very good and stayed with me and did not bark at or chase them). |
 |
| Definitely still teething. |
 |
| One ear all the way up mid-nap. |
One last puppy story - because Honey is half Lab and half German Shepherd, I've been wondering whether her ears will point. From what I've read, the majority of lab/shepherd mixes' ears do not point, but it's possible. If they are going to point, it may not happen until she's 5-6 months old, after she's done teething. No one else who's seen her thinks her ears are going to point, but I'm not so sure. This past week especially they sometimes they go up, and she can definitely move them (like when she greets me in the morning they're folded up tight like a closed hand and back). Hmmmmmm - we'll have to wait and see. I think she's the most beautiful puppy in the world, ears up, down, or in-between, but the suspense!
