In case you thought I was on vacation... I'm not!

Yes, I do realize I have been lapsing in blogger updates, but for good reason. I have been busy making new Halloween pieces. I have two Winter/Santa pieces made and some other goodies in the works too, but they are not pictured here (some are waiting for their debut in January... and that's all I'm going to say about that for now ;) Besides, my hands could only carry so much down to the basement to snap a quick pic.

I am in love, love (serious love) with my newest pieces. (So much so that I am keeping the green and orange suited black cat candy ball.)

I finally worked up the courage to "age" some of my pieces. I know that may sound silly to some of you, but the aging process has always been a little intimidating for me. I have tried antiquing gels and stains before, but was never really happy with the outcome. This time I am very pleased with the results. Unfortunately, my pic does not really capture the aging as it looks in real life (the camera flash) wiped some of that out.

Regardless you can take a peek below, just click to enlarge the pic. As for me... it's onto assembling some tags and then I'll get back to sculpting and painting and yes... aging too (in more ways than one.) ~ Lori

The (not so) SpOoKy tree is completed

Okay, so maybe it didn't turn out to be exactly "SpOoKy" looking.

Then again nothing I seem to do looks the least bit macabre, no matter my intentions or per my original plan. That's the way it goes... regardless of how it was supposed to look, it all panned out better than I thought it would. To say I am pleased is an understatement! It serves its' purpose and that's all that really matters to me.

Pictured below are the pics taken while it was still a work in progress and as a completed tree. Too bad I didn't take a pic with it lighted... it's even more impressive then. In case size matters to you... it's just over 2' high by 3' wide.

Have a great week!! ~ It's Birthday party day here - Bailey is 10 years old today and yes, that does make me feel just a wee bit old! ~ Lori

W. I. P. on a commissioned piece of the FALL ~ Celebrate 365 Cover artwork

It's not every day I get asked to do a commission, which is a good thing because it's literally been about 22 years since I had to hand paint any straight lines or do much in the way of graphics work, that didn't involve a computer.

So far so good though, I am quite pleased with how the piece is coming along. Although I did miscalculate the height of the piece initially and will have to cut it down with the miter saw upon completion (that's why you are seeing the black bands at the top and bottom, they are waste area.)

Oh, I did have one very interesting tidbit of info I'd like to share regarding this piece.
When it came to drawing/tracing in each graphic I avoided the hassle by flopping the imagery in my graphics program.
I then proceeded to print out the graphics in strips (trimming with a ruler and knife for each square/rectangular checker board space) and then I laid each of them onto the board (face down) and proceeded to scribble over top, (the way you would if you were making your own transfer paper.)

Anyhow, the inks I use in my printer worked exactly like transfer/carbon paper. Just thought I would share that in case anyone can use the tip, as I found it to be very useful indeed!! (You can see the results of the ink transfer on the painting on the left. ~ Click the pic below to zoom up.)

Have a great week... more on the SpOoKy tree progress later :) ~ Lori

Is Halloween lame?.... I certainly don't think so!

But according to our son it is! 

Yesterday morning I said "Happy Hallowe'en" to Bailey at which point he replied "Halloween is lame!"

What Bailey didn't know is that I had stayed up until 3:30 in the morning decorating a tree with my paper tags, ornaments and paper lanterns (some of which are meant to go to Amelia... she knows I used them :) I also grabbed the battery operated tea lights and as many hollow pieces of my own creation that I could find all to make some sort of display for him to enjoy. I rummaged around looking for the thread to hang the ornaments with... you see it was a very last minute thing. I haven't had a whack of free time lately... but at the same time... I couldn't bear the thought of not doing a little bit of decorating since he was staying in to hand out candy instead of going out trick or treating on Halloween night.

So when he proclaimed that "Halloween is lame" I was shocked that I could have a son who speaks what is tantamount to blasphemy to me. I was so dumb struck I couldn't utter a word, I just continued to walk down the stairs.

Can you disown a child for saying "Halloween is lame"??? ~ Well... can you? I briefly thought about it... no I didn't, but I did feel a pang of sadness.

As it turns out he is truly his father's son... he couldn't have cared less that I made an effort to make the hallway look nice. (That's a boy for you ;) He walked by the tree and display without noticing them several times. It wasn't until the skeleton was hung from the doorway and the candy was set into bowls that he took any interest whatsoever.

He did enjoy handing out candy to the 15 or so kids we had come to the door, but I think he'll enjoy Halloween a little more this week... there's enough candy left over to get an extremely good sugar rush several times over.

Happy Halloween... lame though it was to him, it's still a rush for me! ~ Lori