The Frog King

This is a commissioned gourd that I just finished and delivered on Saturday. So now you know what I have been doing for the last month; that and getting the "Bug" everyone seems to have had.

The Frog Kings was so fun! It brought back memories. I know you are all surprised by that, are you not As this small world was created I felt so at peace. I love the out doors even though I seldom get to go play in it. So this is one way that I do. It is my world, my fun.

Oh boy, as I am writing this what a trip into the past. Goodness, how old...no more than 10 I guess. We used to visit our dad's oldest sister, Aunt Ivy, on their farm. Pastures were watered by flooding, guess they still are in certain areas. This happened to be in Wilford, Idaho or close to it. We tried to catch frogs in the grass and clover. It also brought up a typical Sallyism. They had a horse. I love horses. It was a paint. Palomino I think and it did not always want to move fast. Aunt Ivy's boy child( whose name I do not recollect, and you will understand why I do not want to remember when I finish this little story) was riding it bareback and wanted it to go faster so he talked me into jamming an apple on a stick and running in front of this critter that loved apples. Did I say loved apples? When you are a tiny child, not being anything but bitsy for our age ( I wonder if Susan remembers this, she probably told me not to do it) well that is one BIG horse when it is pounding the earth right behind you!!!!! Did I also mention that I love fences?

it got the apple and greatly enjoyed it.

See what a small thing like illustrating a gourd can do. I cannot wait to do the next one. I should do one of the horse and the apple. Have to think about that. Wouldn't want to embarrass my self now would I.

Well it is completed now.

What a sweet journey this has been! The Little Gourd has led me down memory lane in more ways than I could ever have imagined. It will be a little heart wrenching to let it go on its journey, but it really wants to go to Linda. Hopefully she will like it as much as I liked doing it for her. I was going to attach the wise old owl to the top of the gourd but he did not, I repeat, did not want to be there. The owl stands alone! So it will be a very small rattle. Why, I do not know but that is the way it is to be. It will make the why known in its own good time.

The painting of the gourd was easy but taking the photos in a manner that the photos came out correctly was something else. Refer to "Techie I am Not". I must have taken a hundred photos to get what I have on the blog.

I have listened and followed, painted and prayed, and have had a fine journey with this project. To all who follow the Little Gourd; thank you. Positive thoughts do help any artist in what ever medium they choose and they are appreciated. They are helpful. They give courage when we need it and always send inspiration.

We all have different talents. They are gifts that we must use for good and always, always give thanks for them.

What will be my next project? No sure, but it will have my all as has the Little Gourd . You know when you give your all, you get it all back.

Well the Fox is in it now

I know, I know, wolves and butterflies were in my head but you know those foxes are pretty quick.

That is the wonderful thing about art It is so fluid and it is best to be open to change lest frustration lay you low.

I love Indian Paintbrush and Horsetail because they bring good memories to the surface of my mind.

Memories of Big Falls the one place on earth that is a sanctuary in my heart. It is a place of peace, tranquility and unbelievably clear water. At the headwaters of the Henry's Fork of the Snake River you could count the pebbles if you were so inclined. It is called Big Springs and there are trout that you can feed. They stay by the bridge and they are BIG trout. Uh uh no fishing!

You might think this has nothing to do with the Little Gourd....actually it doesn't. But yet it does because Island Park has all that I am putting on the Little Gourd. Things stored in my memory often make it to my paintings. Experience and observation are the arts best friends, then with imagination thrown in, oh what worlds we can create.

Oh the butterfly did make it. It flew in and is sitting on the Indian Paintbrush. A little blue one. Maybe more will join it; we will just have to wait and see. It will be featured in the next blog which should have the wolf, maybe.

The Little Gourd Part 3

Well since the last posting I have been pondering the design. You will see that my wise old owl is not quite finished. I think he is waiting for more of the little gourd to be finished before he will enlighten me on how to finish him. The wise old owl came quite easily but for some reason the gourd puzzled me.

I would just see dragon flies and the "four directions". I decided to see what I could find out about the "four directions" and was very excited to find that there are colors attached to them. Yes, I now had my direction for the "four directions"

Truth is associated with Dragon Flies. As a child I remember my mother telling me if I lied the dragon flies would sew my mouth shut. I cannot tell you the impression that made on me. I would rather say any thing than maybe tell a lie. As a child I think I could tell some pretty good stories. Although, there are some ideas floating around in my "gourd" regarding what to do with him. As I write this wolves and butterflies are playing in my head. It is quite pleasant actually.

I am champing at the bit to get going on those visuals.

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!