Painted Game Table

Here is the sketch: I actually ended up making the squares 2 1/2 " square. Better proportion

This table will be in an area designated for kids to play in, but still part of the main part of the house, so I didnt want it to be to "Childrens Furniture" in style.

The only colour in the room at the moment is the fabric on a couch, and thats where the colours for this table have been drawn from.

Here is some nice detail developing...

I used a very thin coat of gold , almost just a ''dusting'' of gold, to liven up the dark squares. It also unifies the whole, since the fish have reflective and interference colours on them.

Here is the table completed. Varnished.
I love using interference and metalic glazes on fish, to make them sparkle and look iridescent.

Adventure Pets Strike Again!

Here they are again, that intrepid duo, no extreme pet sport too daunting for them...

Of course it's the CAT who notices they are flying too low.

Or is he just getting carried away trying to chase the string?The dog is having a blast, unconcerned. Either way, its a wild ride.

You can click on some of these pictures to see them larger.

I can hardly wait to see these made into pillows...what fun its been painting

them.

Dog & Cat Adventure Pillows

Who says dogs and cats don't get along?




I hope nobody is going to tell me the technical reasons why the dog's equipment is never going to work..I know! But short of putting her in a diving bell, I decided to go with the wishful thinking model. (!)



Here are the VERY LOOSE pencil sketches for the two pillows....hilarious, and there were many other really cute ones, maybe someday they will make it out of the sketchbook and onto pillows too....Here is the next one, Hot air Ballooning. Further below you can see it on fabric just barely blocked in today....

Below is the chalk drawing work that I do before painting. Obviously I had to do a lot of figuring out on this one...I made them standing, since the floating legs didn't fit into the square format...

I had fun depicting them standing on each other's fins, which, if you have ever done any scuba diving with task management like loading lobsters into a bag, you know this is exactly what happens as you try to keep your balance, and work with your buddy, while you both try not to float all over the place.
Here are the backs:

The pillows are for a very special room that serves as guest room to 2 little granddaughters of the people who commissioned these pillows. In a subsequent post, I will show some of the painted furniture in the room that i did some years ago. these pillows should fit right in...and obviously the dog and the cat are modeled after real pets in the household. You can see Kona, the dog here:P.S. - Pillows Delivered sitting on my pillows back in June 2008. And The cat is shown here, on tile: Cat Portrait Tiles

Here is the Hot Air Ballooning one, just barely started, ...you will see it completed in the next post, in a few days!! In the meantime, don't try this on your pets! Unless they could maybe really bring you back an extra lobster.

Fine Arts Society Art Show

This weekend I am participating in a Sarasota Fine Arts Society event that includes a gallery show along with a tour of artists' homes. It's a nice event. Tonight was the opening party, well attended.

It runs all day Friday and Saturday

As I have mentioned before in this blog, I enjoy shows and parties like this, involving my work; its always a lot of fun to meet people and talk about my work. Of course, sell things too!

It has also been a lot of fun to set up this display, in a gallery setting. I have particularly enjoyed the gallery lighting.

Washing The Fabric

After the fabric has air cured for 3 days, and then been heat set in a very hot dryer or hand ironed (depending on size of piece) I soak the fabric briefly in soapy water, and hang out side on the line. Then I rinse the soap off with a hose.
I wash the fabric mainly to remove particles of dried paint that stick to the back of the fabric and to wash away any left over chalk marks from the drawing process.

By the time the fabric is washed, usually most of the chalk has been wiped away by me as I paint, or its been painted over, or even sort of incorporated into the art work: sometimes the brighter chalk colours can add an interesting outline , or "shadow" if they become mixed with the fabric paint and made permanent. Its hard to notice, but I like it.

As a companion piece to her two bird pillows, The client has asked for a smaller (18") pillow with fish on it. She will choose one of these:These are the backs for the fish pillows: