The Door is Opening...

The door is almost opening on a brand new year!  I have quite a few new plans and will share as I am able :)

Countdown to Christmas!

I haven't been able to do much art lately as I have been working at my son's shop and helping him with the Christmas rush.  I attended my last market for the year at Morayfield Handmad Expo.

As a different idea, I decorated a white Christmas tree taking inspiration from Miss Havesham's cobwebbed wedding feast in Charles Dicken's novel, Great Expectations.

It is very strange working in a shopping centre, surrounded by Christmas shoppers, Christmas decorations and listening to Christmas carols all day.... I almost feel Christmas has nothing to do with me!

Our First Ice Cream Party!

Finally finished the lettering on one side of the van!  Hardly breathed through the process... takes a bit of bravery to do outlining.  I learned its easier to pull the brush towards you or away and not do any wobbles, but very hard to be neat if drawing the line sideways with the brush!

But anyway, I am pleased with how it turned out.

These photos show stages in the painting of the ice cream cone.  I am still not 100% finished with this.

The Whipped Up Cafe van getting ready for business!

Here the van and gazebo are set up for our first ice cream party :)

Thank you to all those who braved the rain and supported us!

Lesson Learnt

After meticulously masking the lettering, I sponged on the colours and also the shading.  It looked great until I tried to remove the masking tape!  Disaster!  I used ordinary masking tape instead of the green painters variety and it was a big mistake.  When I pulled at the tape it lifted some of the underlying paint and all the edges had bleed.

I tried just retouching with a paint brush but didn't like the untidy result, so ... I am once again masking all the letters and sponging the background colour around them!!  Crazy!  But I do like the result.

Now I just need to outline the letters!

Whipped Up Cafe van

There has been some progression on the van.. although I haven't had much time lately!  These letters are still masked ready for some shading.  Then I will outline them and do it all again on the other side!

Lettering process

Work on the van stalled for a while but I was back doing some more today.  I have removed the green masking tape from the stripes and they look really good.  I then decided to do the lettering... I am not a calligrapher or sign writer so this posed a bit of a problem!

I stuck to what I understand and adapted a familiar process to what was needed.  I typed up the words in a typeface that I liked and magnified them on the computer screen.  Then I traced the letters from the screen onto tracing paper.  Next I drew a grid over the traced letters.

I drew a corresponding larger grid on old manila folders and enlarged each letter individually.  When drawn, I cut them out with scissors.  Next I placed the cardboard letters where I wanted them on the side of the van.  This took a long time to get the spacing right!!  Once stuck in the correct place, I traced around the shapes and removed the stencils.  Voila!  Large words on the side of the van.

After meticulously masking some of the letters, I painted the first coat on in lovely gelato colours.... pastels in blue, green, yellow and pink.  I meant to take a photo of it but forgot my camera!

In the Pink!

On went the pink stripes today!  The masking is very time consuming as everything has to be measured, but the actual painting in of the stripes was very quick.  In these photos you can see the masking tape is still present.  The stripes will appear more even when it is removed.  I'm a little nervous about painting the ice cream cone... I want it to be realistic and that's always nerve wracking!!

On the other side of the van the painting will be quite similar, but I am thinking of adding a teacup or a stack of teacups as the van will eventually supply coffee as well as ice cream.

Labour of Love!

This afternoon I began masking out areas ready to paint the pink stripes.  Not that you can see it here, but I also hand drew a large ice cream cone between the window and the door.

I was still doing it after dark!  That's enthusiasm for you!  I must admit I'm getting more confidant!!

Still painting

I am still putting coats of white paint on the van and have injured my shoulder in doing so.. I think it's just a strain.  Very excited to be almost ready to paint the wording and decoration.  I bought the pretty paints for that last night!

I will post pictures as soon as there is something interesting to see!!

First Day Painting the Van

It was a very hot day today so I decided to erect my market gazebo to give myself a bit of shade while painting!  I was so nervous to begin this.. it was like taking a deep breath and cutting into some expensive material to make a dress.  But like dress making,  once you start everything is ok!

My daughter and I were able to get the first coat on most of the vehicle, and this particular side now has two coats.  It's ready for the next stage.

I measured out and stuck together some newspaper to use as a template.  Tomorrow I will continue with this...

Van design

First step is to take lots of dimensions...

Last night I drew up a plan of design...

and today I sanded and touched up many rust spots with anti-rust.  I also began masking handles, window and reflectors.  Tomorrow I will begin to paint!

My most ambitious project yet!!

This is what has been distracting me.. I will be painting this big old Mercedes van for my daughter's ice cream business!  Trying not to feel too intimidated!

Not much time...

Life seems to have hindered my art production lately.  I have been doing some traveling, some house renovation and working on a business venture with my daughter.  I have, however, been playing around and experimenting.  Below is a sign I am working on.  It's meant to be a decorative piece in its own right.  As you can see I haven't written anything yet... always the hardest part for me!

The next few photos show an experimental doll I am making and thinking of taking to the Unleashed market in Nundah, Brisbane, this weekend.  Of course I may not finish in time...

Usually when I make a cloth doll, I produce the figure first.  This time I am painting first and will then sew it together.  Will let you know how I go!

Chocolates

English Quality Street chocolates in a hand painted gift box.... on sale at Morayfield Handmade Expo tomorrow!

Snowy pumpkins and chocolate boxes

Finished the pumpkins today!  Glammed up the large paper mache pumpkin with more opal glitter and glued the gold stems onto the velvet mini pumpkins.  I added gold leaf to the stems to give them extra shine!

These colourful boxes were a pleasure to paint!  They reminded me of gorgeous chocolate boxes from Santa's workshop or Willie Wonker's chocolate factory!  In fact, I think I might package chocolates in them... perfect gift!

By the way, I was asked recently if I still painted more serious work... and the answer is not for a while. 

 I have been absorbed in this light-hearted happy work and have put the more 'serious' paintings aside for now.  If you would like to see some of these large paintings check out the posts 'Such Good News' and 'Long, long ago'.  They also appear in some of the photos I have shown of my market stall because I often hang them up behind my tables.

Snowy pumpkins

I finished the Princess pumpkin and decided to add some small white velvet pumpkins.  They still need to have their stems attached!

In between pumpkin-making, I have created more bright treasure boxes!

Princess pumpkin

After much experimentation, I decided I didn't have time to develop a whole Cinderella's coach!  So I am going with a white pumpkin, wholly made of paper, with a little crown on top and decorated in a feminine way.  After spending a lot of time paper mache-ing I am now at the stage of draping and gluing fine tissue paper over the form.

To make the crown, I used a cupcake wrapper as a template to give me the right curve and then drew a pattern on white paper.  I rolled out some white Sculpey, placed the template on top and cut out the crown.

Next I baked the clay until it was hard.

Tomorrow I will continue draping the pumpkin..

Cinderella and snow white

My pretty red bird house turned out well, but there was no point in taking another photo of it.  My mother loved it so much that I have given it to her!  I will of course paint more.

I have another Morayfield Handmade Expo coming up and I feel inspired to make some fantasy elements.  Cinderella's coach has always been a huge inspiration for me so I will try to create that.  Below, you can see a paper mache pumpkin that I made from a real pumpkin, as well as a plaster cast I took from a wooden spindle.  

I tried to get a photo of my black cat with the white pumpkin, but he moved around so much that this was all I could get!

These pictures I snaffled off the internet and they are my inspiration for Cinderella or the Snow Queen...