dizzy – a commissioned dog sculpture

This is one dog I especially loved doing. He belongs to a friend of mine and he’s a beautiful boy with a lovely personality and serious ball addiction.

He’s some kind of terrier mix with huge ears and a crazy coat.

Here is a close up of his face and those massive ears.

And a little 3D visual.

So, how did I achieve that coat you ask? Well, I thought the best thing for it would be to use gauze. I raided my medicine cabinet and took out some gauze which I dyed by soaking in coloured water: the black was diluted acrylic paint, and the tan was… you guesed it! Black tea!

I then cut up the gauze strips into sections and laid them over the figure in a way that matched Dizzy’s colouring and the direction of the coat.

I then brushed the gauze to loosen it up and give it a more ‘hairy’ appearance.

It worked out pretty well even if do say so myself.

Mind you, the coat is not soft and flowing. I had to fix him with PVA glue to make sure he stayed intact, but he’s a sculpture, not a toy, so I figure that doesn’t matter.

The friend that commissioned him asked about his eyes. I don’t do eyes on my dogs. I’m not really sure why, they just seem better that way. Maybe its because I don’t feel I can do them justice this way, not like I can in my paintings. Maybe its cause without eyes you can project your own eyes onto them, your mind automatically fills in the blanks and imparts the emotions that you want to see in the figures.

Maybe I’m full of crap. But I’m the artist, so I have creative license. Ha.

z

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Funky Junk Upcycle Ideas 753

a flowery dachshund

Meet Fleur. She’s a sweetie.

This is one of the dogs I worked on for myself while working on a couple of commissions which I’ll share soon.

I figured that since my first two dachshunds sold quickly (here is one, the other is at the bottom of this post cause I guess I never shared him on the blog… oops), that maybe making another for my Etsy shop (or ebay? or where..?) might be a good idea.

So, Fleur was made the same way as all my other dog sculptures, using recycled cardboard, wire, DIY paper pulp, air dry clay and then covered in decoupaged napkins to make her pretty and colourful.

I thought she would look best with a purple nose, so there it is! Before selling her, I’m considering giving the nose a shine with some varnish, just to make it shine… I think that will look great.

In case you’re wondering where I disappeared to, well, I have some great excuses. One is I went through a very busy stage, working at the travel agency and grooming dogs in my free time. The other is I went through a lazy stage, preferring to live vicariously through Netflix while holding down the couch. Can’t be too safe with those tricky couches.

Then I got inspired, so I’ve been working on a few things. Firstly, finishing my commissions (a deadline sure does help get you out of a funk) then moving on to my own work. And lastly, having stopped the office work and with things quieter on the grooming front, I’ve moved on to some tool related work. Despite the cold.

At least it doesn’t rain often on Paros. Not a good thing…

Oh, and a ton of home organising, moving summer clothes up and winter clothes down and sorting a ton of stuff to give away. If it doesn’t bring joy, get rid of it – isn’t that the saying? I also say “if I haven’t worn it in ages, it has to go”. Its my way of making room for new stuff (new or 2nd hand) which I will wear.

I am a natural organiser but I never seem to get as organised as I’d like to be. I have storage solutions coming out of my nose, but am I able to find something quickly every time? Nope. Cause it’s not totally, sensibly organised into a spot where it belongs!

sigh.

So anyway, look forward to being spammed with posts over the next few days. Hopefully I can keep up the work, the inspiration and the momentum of blogging again. I mean, what else are you gonna do on those cold evenings?

And, as promised, here is a pic of the last dachshund I made and sold on Etsy. He was covered in striped vintage fabric. One of my all-time favourites.

Cute, huh?

z