Crocus Kettle Gourd Birdhouse-Final Steps

I have finished the kettle gourd birdhouse. It was very enjoyable to paint with such bright vivid colors for a spring design.



I added 3 coats of exterior spar urethane (sanding lightly between each coat) for a very durable and long lasting finish. Since Michigan has such sever temperature changes, I always use the best product for the most extreme conditions.

This is a close-up of the flower detail.

I tied a bit of raffia around the hanger and added some seed beads for a nice touch. What bird wouldn't want some home decor accents right?

The hanger I use is a heavy duty suede cord tied at the end.

The front view of the final product.

I hope you try painting one of these birdhouses for your use. Caution.....it's pretty addicting!

Have a great week,

Darlene

An Old Find

Now that Halloween is over I started digging through my Thanksgiving decorations and I found this turkey. I had honestly forgotten that I made this little ceramic guy years ago. I had taken ceramic classes (one evening class every week) when my 2 children were little ones. It was my time to get out. interract with other ladies and fulfill my pent up creativity. I loved those classes! I made this turkey when a new technique had come out called "dry brushing" using acrylic paints. This was a great process because I didn't like having to use ceramic glazes and fire the piece in a kiln again. Once I tried this process I was hooked. I always enjoyed the soft look that this painting technique accomplished.

I thought I'd share this funny turkey with you to start off our Thanksgiving season .




I'm currently working on a Santa face gourd and should be sharing him with you soon. I am also planning on painting quite a few snowmen gourds. It's so hard to decide what cute little face to paint first!!!

Have a great week!
Darlene

The Making of a Scarecrow - Part 4

Well I'm almost finished with this project. He's just received his 2 coats of spar urethane and I also drilled small holes around the areas that I am inserting the raffia.

Small holes are drilled for the straw effect.

Some of the raffia that has been glued into place.

A front view of the "straw".

The final reveal will be tomorrow. I've decided to name him PATCHES and I will list him on the etsy shop.

TFL!

The Making of a Scarecrow - Part 2

Happy Tuesday everyone!
Oh my...our new little puppy has been keeping me QUITE busy the past 2 weeks. She's a sweetie but very active! I have managed to base coat the scarecrow and do some shading and highlighting. Here are a few examples so you can see the progress. I hope to accomplish a bit more in the next few days. It still doesn't look too much like a scarecrow but soon it will begin getting a personality.

I first begin by sketching, with a pencil, the basic shape of the hat, face, shirt and overalls. I then basecoated (3 total coats) all the appropriate areas with my acrylic paints.

There will be a happy little face here soon :-)

I then begin deciding where I want my shading to be. I float different values of paint colors on those areas. This gives the piece definition and dimension.

A close up of the shading around the shirt and overall strap at the shoulder area.

A bit of drybrushing on the areas where the light would hit helps make the piece come alive. In person the denim is beginning to look real.

The next steps in Part 3 will be to draw on more details such as: facial features, collar, arms, pockets on the overalls, and stitching. I'll post some photos when they are completed. Thanks so much for looking.

Have a great day!

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