Gigantic Jumping Jack

He's not gigantic but he is larger than the norm. Here's some shots, not the best light.

It isn't finished yet. Due to its size it's quite difficult to get a shot of it hanging long, so he's sitting here beneath a very elderly composer puppet I found in Brighton.

I am not 100% sure about him. Because of the size, as time went on, I started meandering around and trying different things, so he is something of a mish mash.

I've always loved the faces of blue hindu gods. A totally blue man was something i'd toyed with but as I say, I started meandering and the clouds appeared.

I will finish him, but I need a short break from it. The good thing about this kind of meandering is the firm ideas it gives you, so I know what I want to do for the next one. This one and the one following are what I aim to send to a Berlin Gallery for a collective show in April.

Some progress

My blog title's always seem to be 'Some progress' or similarly vague things. I'll try and have a more enigmatic title next time :) Meanwhile, the commission i've been working on has come on in leaps and bounds and I hope to show some photos of it soon, here's a shot of some of the parts before they were placed in properly:


It's currently hanging in my hallway and making me very amused to turn the handle and watch it go.

Also, a new jumping jack to go with the strong man. He's a lion tamer - without a lion currently, i'm not sure whether to make one to hang above him? I was thinking a tiger and a small whip for him.

Ta Da!

So, the reason I heart Ponoko so much is that - although the shipping to Europe is expensive, they are working on it and in the meantime they have provided many great offers and deals to us eager makers. And one of these deals meant that I could have a large amount of wooden jumping jacks laser cut.

Woop! As a result of that i've been messing about with decals and so forth in order to produce copies of jumping jacks i've previously made. And here is the result of Monsieur Fleur, the strong man:


The decals work excellently and then I cover the lot in a nice glossy varnish and finally pin it all together using binding posts. It's very sturdy and looks very lovely in the flesh so to speak. The question is really whether to discontinue paper DIY versions? They will remain much cheaper than the wood versions - Even with the great deals at Ponoko each laser cut jumping jack is more expensive than i'd like.

I hope to carry on and make a circus set of jumping jacks - A ringmaster and a clown as well as a lion tamer .... or something like that anyway!

This jumping jack will be listed in the shop shortly!

Update

I ended up adding another balloon to the theatre


I've wanted to do a moustachioed balloon since Baron Munchausen.

It continues slowly but surely. It's nice to tinker about rearranging and creating new compositions.

I am listing Monsieur Fleur in the shop tonight. A paper version will be out soon!

Jumping Jack

Some quick and dirty shots of a new jumping jack - This one will be made into a paper jumping jack - I've never bothered doing that before but people have asked about it so I thought i'd give it a go :)

Scans for the paper version



Photos (bad again!)

Shop update today and when things don't work out

Well now - the Monkey and Bear theatre appeared to be going well however - here's the back story. Generally speaking I always work out colour values for every aspect of an image/theatre before hand...Usually by doing a drawing and then digitally colouring it or using felt tips. The reason is that I always end up with one aspect not fitting with another, and then i'm stumped. The same thing happened with the new theatre. The background was fine, then I added bear and you could barely (heh) make out bear. So I put gold in the background. Fine...Then I added monkey, and the two of them seemed to come from completely different pictures. I could have sobbed... I didn't I just went and drank a glass of wine and hoped to find out the problem later on...I never did manage it. Here's some pictures!

Monkey on his own - vicious little devil eh?

Bear on her own - serene and sad


Somehow it just isn't working. It's actually driving me insane. Part of me logically realises that there are more layers to be added, more sea and also some circus bunting around the top....these things may mean it will come together. Unfortunately in a pique of - something - I ripped out the organ painting off he back and there's now a mess there....I really need to leave it alone for a bit! My other thought is that i'll repaint bear in monkey's browns and then they'll both occupy the same colours......we'll see, I don't think I can sit down with it again for a bit!

Anyway, I have some things to put into the shop in a sec. Here's a photo of the queen and I:

And! A jumping jack! He's a tatooed wonder - it's all very mystical

And finally, I leave you with a pic of monkey hanging around on the stand I use at Glasgow Craft Mafia fairs:
Hoping everyone is having an excellent weekend, i'm going to bust out of my studio and go for a walk in the sun.

Jumping Jimi and turning 30

Well, this week I turned 30 ( tuesday ) and also had the week off work in order to indulge myself in some making and painting. Unfortunately I also came down with the worst cold i've had in a long time, so i've been making and painting through a sneezing mist. I haven't been out at all due to looking like quasi-modo, however I have soldiered on with the Jumping Jack of Jimi Hendrix I wanted to make. The idea of being ill AND not doing anything creative was too unbearable. So anyway, I took photos as I went. It doesn't really give a great likeness of jimi, the face is a bit long. But I think it has the basic vibe!

The original picture

A drawing

Transfer to wood

Cut out, sand and gesso

Paint!

Check joints

Et Voila!

Close up of chest

Close up of the face