My Best Friend's Mural

   So, hello again! It's just about that time for the monthly entry. SO much has happened in just a month, and I am eager to see what other changes we will have this month! The Fall season is certainly taking its time arriving, but the holidays are already amping up for the landslide that will swiftly bring us the New Year. I find myself thinking alot about the future lately, and what changes will happen by this time next year! I have quite a few ambitions, such as build up enough inventory of my stuffed creatures and start selling them at a great local handmade art store here in Tallahassee! (I figured I'd start with what I know I can churn out quickly if I need to, and then see where it takes me--as in mediums...) And it's never too early (or I suppose late, depending how you look at it) to start working on some New Year's Resolutions! =D
   BUT! Before ALL of that happens, I wanted to celebrate my best friend's birthday this month by posting the wonderful pictures of the nursery I helped paint for the arrival of her baby boy in May! There are still a few little touch ups needed and things I need to make (a Sun-mobile, and a special stuffed animal for him, of course!), but still! Check out the room! =)

She decided long before she knew the gender of her baby that she wanted a Safari-type theme for the nursery.

She's still working on composing the picture frames to fill in the open spots on the walls. I can understand the indecisiveness--there are so many good photos, and not enough time now that the little one is here! 

Here's her dog, Laverne, guarding the couch, and posing for pictures, as usual... =)

My favorite was the window-cove! Her hubby-to-be helped build the bookshelves on either side of the window, and they turned out great! The animal stickers on the closet doors were the inspiration for the whole room's theme, and were the perfect finishing touch to bring the whole room together.

And here are close-ups of the ten animals I painted above the brown border around the room (you can click on the pictures to enlarge them):

I know that not all of these animals are safari animals, but, hey, you can keep laughing while the little one learns all the different names before he's in school! And it'll all be because of how awesome his Aunt Danielle is. =D

Aaand, it's about that time for me to go now, so, until next time, be awesome to each other! ♥ Danielle

Murals!

Just thought I'd try my best to keep up with posting my art (sorry I missed a few weeks. As always, life sweeps you up sometimes!), and as I always do, it takes me forever to decide on something fun to do for the weekend, and it is certainly fast approaching! It always starts out with a big list of To-Do's, and then ends with me throwing it away and claiming that we should enjoy all of our weekend, and only do what WE wanna do...and then we sit and stare at our beautiful new 42" tv...so much for my summer tan! =P Heheheh! Besides, we don't have easy access to a pool...sure, we could go jump in one of the apartment complexes' pools, but why would I want to go stare at a whole buncha college freshmen and blind them with my stark white blinding skin? =) I want to go to Wakulla Springs, or any beach within an hour's drive--THAT's what I wanna do!!!

BUT, before I can go on our excursion, I'd love to show you some pictures of a family friends' nursery I helped paint with my boyfriend Michael, and my sister (in-law, technically...) Adron! Our friends were expecting a little girl, but they live on about a half-acre of land a bit out of town...at the time with 5 dogs, 5 hens, and a goat! =D (Now their "farm" has grown to include another goat, a baby goat, a rooster, 3 more hens, and two more dogs!) So, of course it was perfect that they wanted an original nursery room mural...in a barnyard theme!!! Check it out! (By the way, double click the images for a bigger view.)

What's a farm without a barn? Adron's talented job on the wind vane is really really cool!

The sheep and the butterfly!

This little piggy is just behind the door!

Michael's handy work with the hay bale--we needed scenery!

I just love this--Adron's baby goat has little rectangular pupils!

Here's the baby chicks and the baby cow! I ended up gluing a cute pink ribbon to the baby cow's bell just to bring some 3D to the murals. The dandelions were Adron's idea, and they were PERFECT to tie all the walls together!

We decided that on the tiny patch of wall under the windowsill needed another small animal, and we thought, "Why not a smiling mole?" I'll try to find a picture of the mole's home because we added quite a few rooms!

Here's us, the artists! Me, Michael, and Adron against the largest wall completed! We worked for beer and dinner and they couldn't keep us away once they started that! =D

We had so much fun, and I would LOVE to find a way to work together again on something like this. *wink wink nudge nudge* ;)

Until next time...

Whew! What a weekend!

Francis and Bartholomew looking over the living room, now.

Okay. Getting started out slow, but eh, it's life. It gets super busy so very quick! =)  I had a good time, of course, but I am super excited to just hang out and read some comics with the boyfriend, while writing for the blog...if only my washing machine would cooperate and drain the clothes I put in this morning! So much for doing chores today, I suppose. =)

Well, I said I would start with the SkeleBoys, and so I shall.

This was one of the coolest project assignments I received in art school. My teachers gave each of the students three 12' x 8" x 2" planks of wood and we had to cut and laminate them to designs that we had previously proposed to the professor. I had wanted to convey my cute version of the skeletons I was always drawing into these super-cute 3D versions, but also throw people off of what is expected from first view--I wanted them to be solid, and rock-heavy! I love when people pick up my artwork, and handle it. I understand that most all other artists (unless they work in textiles or interactive art) want the audience to only touch with their sight. I, on the other hand, LOVE to see people pick up my stuffed animals and wring them around and throw and play with them! And the same goes for these guys--I wanted to throw people off by allowing them to touch and pick up the skeleboys and interact with them when their sight perceives these fat skeletons that look quite cute and soft and adorable, and when you pick them up, the look on your face when you realize that they aren't soft and light like your mind interprets this adorable design, and in fact, your arms hurt just having to hold them up! =)

I started with the designs, a few sketches, then a LOT of measurements...(I tried to upload scans of my old designs to show them here, and am having a little bit of trouble doing so, so I'll try to repost those again later--sorry !) I had to measure out the planks in order to use the wood I had wisely. I can tell you that the students had to wise up very quickly about leaving their untouched wood around after class--there were some vultures that would spy the procrastinator's new wood leaning up in a corner, and they would take it to make up for the extra pieces they needed in their own project to make it work! I used the designs to do some math, and then I had to cut and laminate all the pieces together like a super easy Jenga tower! After about a week of letting the glue really set, I unclamped all the giant towers, and started on months-long work of using a power-grinder to grind the rectangular towers into the round shapes that became their bellies and heads. Of course, as a novice, my designs were dictating that the largest skeleboy was to be 8" tall in total (with head), but with all the grinding that I was doing that took quite a few months to just get to where I did was very daunting. Plus, once I got them rounded out, I really liked how large they turned out to be. The size was another eye-tricker.

I couldn't find any pictures that I had taken of the boys in the process, but I do have one before the paint job--you can see the awesome wood grain designs that became a large discussion with everyone who saw them. Half of the people seeing the boys in production wanted to keep the grain (including my professor) and I had to convince them that while a clear coat of polyurethane would keep the grain looking great, that they weren't prepared for how great they would look finally painted!


Here are the boys naked in the wood shop! 



So, I just needed to start painting. I should have splurged and gotten larger brushes, but I painted all the boys with acrylic, and only with one small brush. It was rough, but they turned out great!



Here are the boys in the workshop, finally painted. From left to right, I named them, as I do with everything I make: Francis, Steve, and Bartholomew!





Their backsides, as they look on into the quiet workshop.

 Unfortunately, as always happens in experiments with art, I tried to complete the project with a coat of polyurethane, but got a little happy with it (I like an even seal), and didn't realize that a thick coat of this would show up as yellow on all the white paint. SO, I had to resand all the boys, and repaint all of them!!! And of course, I repainted them all with the same acrylic and brush. =) I always like to make things more complicated than they need to be. Next time, I'm either getting the aerosol poly (lighter, more even coverage), or not using any at all, which is what they have now.



Here's Francis now, and he's always got this mischievous look on his skull. 



Francis' backside



This is Steve. He's the most boastful--he keeps his brothers in check, and has a big heart!





And this is Bartholomew. Being the biggest brother makes him the protector. He carries a lot of worry on his skull, but ultimately lets go to enjoy the happiness that the three brothers bring to their living admirers.

  Ultimately, Francis was 9" tall and 19-1/2" round, Steve was 12" tall and 25" around, and Bartholomew comes in at 14" tall and 27-1/2" round! Should you get the chance, I'd love for you to pick one up and check them out in person!



...until next time! ♥ Danielle

Hurrah!!!

THE OFFICIAL FIRST POST! *DUN-DUN-DUNNNNN!!!*

Who would have known that it could have been this easy?  =)

Well, Welcome to my brand-spanking new blog, where I hope that this becomes a wonderful new habit of keeping my creativity going by looking forward to showing you some cool art stuff, and, well, maybe you just like it enough that you want some for yourself!!! After all, I'm pretty awesome at this art-thing, and, I do have a degree in this kind of field. =D I totally welcome any and all comments because without some criticism every once in a while, the compliment doesn't mean quite as much. We're all learning, so why should it stop once we're out of school? =) 

So, here goes everything! Check back to hear about my awesome Skeleboys--I'll show you some pictures of the process (what pictures I do have) and if you're interested, read my story of how I made them. Until next time...be awesome to each other! ♥ Danielle