The Little Gourd part 2

There it was, my dad's jigsaw, I smiled as I picked it up, visions of my father played in my head as I held it and then.......wait a minute. How was this to be accomplished? Hold the gourd between my legs as I decapitated it. No, maybe hold it in my hand...I immediately counted my ten fingers and decided they were keepers and put the jig up. This will be done with no machinery thank you.

Well in my desire to keep my digits these tools were found:a blade for the jigsaw, an Exacto blade set, a bamboo skewer and electrical tape. Sorry, McGyver, no duct tape but it worked.

I sawed on my lap with the jigsaw blade (logic there somewhere maybe because I held the "power", not an electric saw), turning slowly as I went, eyeballing where the line would meet itself. You would think that to draw a line would be the way to go but being somewhat of a free spirit, I winged it. Yeah its level.. for the most part.

Well, would you look at that. No wonder it didn't rattle like the other gourds. It is crammed full of gourd guts. You know seeds, to the max. Hmmm, should I save them and grow my own gourds? Well now that is something to think about later.

It took some time to get the seeds and such to let go so that they could be removed , and the Exacto knife could only reach so far but man would it ever end. Scrape, scrape, shake, shake out of a rather small opening.

Well another tool was needed that was longer than the blade handles. A paint brush is long enough but didn't want to use a paint brush to attach the round Exacto blade to as it might ruin a perfectly good brush. Thankfully there was an aha! moment. Bamboo skewers. They might work really well as they have a flat end to attach the blade to and a pointed one to dislodge the insides from the gourd wall. One round scraper blade, skewer, and electrical tape make the perfect tool.

Things moved along quite quickly from there and oh sooo much more came out. If it had to be put back we would be in trouble because there is no way! Would you look at that!

Well, now it is ready to illustrate for the rattle it is to be with dragonflies, wolves and such with a wise old owl to watch over it all.

The Little Gourd that wanted to be a rattle part 1

When I am preparing to illustrate a gourd the first thing I do is clean them of their skin and then I feel them to make sure they are as smooth as I can get them. As I go through this process I to get to "know" the gourd and an illustration comes into my mind that fits the gourd.

I cleaned and caressed this little gourd with the straight stem (most stems are curved) and it gave me nothing . No matter when or how many times I held it and pondered upon what it was to be nothing came. So it was put up on the shelf to wait until it would tell me what it wanted to be.

Not too long ago a friend came to town and we met at Camilla's Kaffe on Aspen street for breakfast. As we chatted Linda asked me if I knew what had happened to this artist she knew who had done this beautiful pastel painting for her and was she doing anything. (This artist is me.)

I explained that the artist was well and that I had just completed the illustration for the 2009 Mike the Headless Chicken web and poster and that I was teaching a colored pencil class. I have a photo of the MTH design on my phone so I whipped it out to show her and since there was a shot of one of my gourds (Fairies By Day & By Night) I told her about that endeavor and gave her a peek.

She was very interested and said she would like a gourd rattle; not too large and would I do one. Well you bet I would! And what do you think popped into my mind. The little gourd... this is it! It was waiting to be a rattle for Linda.

It is sometimes strange how inspiration comes.....sometimes a tiny hello that is sweet. Now those are the ones you need to listen to.

So here we go on our journey of the Little Gourd. How to accomplish this rattle? I don't know. Yeah the web. Okay that was good. I have to cut the top off and clean the insides out. How to do that. Well I went to the garage cuz I knew where my dad's old jig saw sat on the shelf........

Techie i am not

So i am somewhat behind on my posting. I blame it on the camera that took the photos and then refused to give them up. Then with my new Canon Elph......ah learning is soo much fun. So I um took a while to figure it out. Was somewhat taken aback when I put my finger over the flash to keep from getting a glare and got.........a red photo. Wooo trippy.

This is my first ever gourd illustration. It will be one that I keep cuz its my first child gourd. Creations are that way ya know. Part of the artist. They may give them titles and such or not..... the i of we does not unless she has to. Kinda figure people can call it what they want as we all see something different in the creation. And this way no explaining why it has the title it has. I used Prismacolor pens because didn't want to cover up the gourd but to use its natural beauty. Its kind of like a total process. When I start a gourd I hold it, and caress it to get to know all the planes to it. this one was fairly symmetrical and what blemishes it had were worked into the design.

The really nice quality of the pens is that they are transparent and allow the gourd to still be a gourd. I do like creating my own little worlds. Oh, that is a little house wren peeking out her door.

My next post will feature a Fairies gourd. Yes, I already took the photos.

Also, a gourd that has been commissioned will be the one that I will show the startthrough to the finish. Its "bare naked" as we begin.

Have a creative day!