Cupcakes and Fairy Butts

This week has been a week of trying new styles and methods in my art, as well as falling back on a favorite subject and medium. I've been pretty busy with making things and adjusting to the thought of going back to work, which I'll be doing super soon on a part time basis. I've been out shopping for new teacups and wonders for the upcoming mad tea party but have found the thrift and pottery shops really don't have anything that's calling to me.

Next week will be devoted to making and collecting all manner of things for the party. From glittery garlands, to wardrobe, candy and cupcakes. It's going to be a different variation then last year and I think I may err a bit away from the Alice in Wonderland theme. I tend to leave my idea making and plotting up until the day I'm taking the photos, so we'll see what happens. For now, I'll show you what sort of mess making I've been up to.

A friend of mine was kind enough to take me out for a night of painting and wine sipping at a new painting studio that recently opened. Essentially, you look at their calendar and see if any of the paintings they have scheduled appeal to you. If they do, grab a friend and a bottle of something tasty and head over on that night to paint that picture along with the instructor. I had no idea this place existed, but she did and was excited that they had a 'funky cupcake' painting night so that's the class we went to. It's not my typical style (some of you may know that I dislike pink, which will make another of my projects seem sort of funny) but I'm quite pleased with the result. I hung it up in the dining room.

I was amused because the instructor asked us if anyone paints regularly. My lone hand went up and man, did I feel a bit like people thought I was a big fat cheater. This isn't typically how or what I paint, so I enjoyed the night and had a lot of fun. At the end of class we all showed our projects off and the class leader said, "Oh, that's SO good!... Wait, you paint don't you?" As if that disqualified me from compliments. Next time? Totally not raising my hand.

Now this, on the other hand, is how and what I normally paint:

If they were having a 'nekkid goblin' painting night, I would 100% be a big fat cheater. This little guy is done up in watercolors and micron pen and measures in at 4"x6" and is available for adoption in my etsy shop.

I've been wanting to paint a sneaky, torch bearing goblin for a while but had initially envisioned him wearing clothes. When I went to draw this little fellow though, he informed me clothes just get in the way and make you less sneaky. He did however, request a nice pair of soft booties to keep his toenails from clicking against the floor and giving him away. Silly fellow.

Finally, we have my most ambitious project. It is my third needle felting project and was originally meant to be a small waldorf style, simple fairy doll with a round body, round head, maybe some arms. I had planned on hanging the final project in the dining room window. However, that's not what I ended up making. At all.

She is needle felted without an armiture, so she doesn't pose, or sit or stand without being propped up. But, as I said, she isn't what I had set out to make initially and that doll wouldn't have needed an armiture. She is as long as my hand and has taken somewhere in the ballpark of 4 hours to do so far.

As you can see, nekkidness is the theme with the fae this week. She won't be this way for long but it seemed like a shame to do all that work sculpting her body and then needle felting clothing onto her. So, I'll be sewing something flowy, shimmery and gypsy like for her instead.

You can see why my dislike of pink made me chuckle, but as I'm working through wool gifted to me by a friend my color pallete is a little limited. I could have done solid blue, or yellows for her hair, but the pinks and purples worked best for variation. She's probably going to end up with a shimmery dark pink outfit, since I like the hair and wing colors so much and have some in my fabric stash. So there you go, sometimes a disliked color can look good.

Now that I've rambled on, what have you guys been up to this week? Any plans for the weekend?