This is the first tray I tried decoupaging. It’s a melamine school cafeteria tray I got at the ReStore years ago. Love the turquoise color. And the contrasting lipstick pink colors I found to cut out. I had so much fun doing this one, the quirky combination of images pleases me. It’s an odd shape and probably wouldn’t appeal to everyone so I kept it! Yay!
I love small, pretty dishes which are the perfect size to set a spoon on after stirring coffee and tiny bowls for…um..I don’t know—to put a tea bag on maybe? Really, what would the tiny bottom one be made for? It’s only about an inch and a quarter in diameter. But so sweet. Maybe for a thimbleful of sake. Anyway, I have a pile of these little mini saucers and teensie bowls which teeter in the cupboard and drive people crazy. And now they are still life objects.
Lest you grow weary of camels and elephants, here are some zebras. This is a decoupage tray which is a collage glued on a tray with lots of coats of Mod Podge on top. I made a few of these a year or two ago–I love cutting and pasting! I gave them away but luckily I took pictures. I can’t wait to do some more but the thing is it’s a big messy project for me. It involves tons of magazines and pages and snippets of paper everywhere while I’m deciding on a scene and finding just the right things for it. It always involves making a HUGE mess on the dining table AND living room floor, with scraps of paper trailing throughout the house…not a project to be undertaken lightly or if we are having guests anytime soon. Or if anyone else is in the house pretty much. It’s SO much fun.
I bought the trays at thrift stores–this one is one of those Currier and Ives print trays. I left some of the original picture showing in places–the grass in front foreground, the sky and trees in the top left. Next time, I’m going to use polyurethane for a more durable finish since I had some problems with things sticking to and leaving an imprint on the trays. It will add to the drying time but oh well.
If you immerse yourself in this project, you will forget about eating and half a day will go by before you come up for air and realize you are still in your jammies. That’s the kind of fun I’m talking about! How can you say “Nah, dude” to that?
Yes, well, not one of my most successful endeavors but time to move on. This is my third attempt for crying out loud and I’ve grown weary of trying to capture his essence. The actual wooden elephant is about a foot tall and maybe sixteen inches from tail to trunk. Solid and heavy and so sweetly painted. I love this elephant. I will give it a go another time. Made in India–of course. So many of my favorite decorative items are from India. Funny what people are drawn to. Maybe I lived there in another life. When it was less crowded.
This is one of my favorite thrift store finds from a few years ago. Found it at The Green Door, one of my regular haunts. There were two of them and of course I wanted both but restrained myself. It’s about 16 inches tall and looks hand-carved (wood) and stained or painted dark. The finish is a bit beat up, chipped and not smooth which doesn’t bother me one bit. I think she’s lovely. Looks sort of Indonesian, right? Love that headpiece.
This was a quick sketch done with a gel pen. Then I took a paintbrush dipped in water over it which made the ink bleed to create the gray tones. My rendering is much lighter than the actual ebony color–but that’s ok! I like the looseness of the sketch because my tendency is to tighten up with details too soon. I like things a little messy and unfinished. Added the peach wash for a bit of color since the last sketch was black and white also. Which reminds me–I should go read that last post or two and make sure I’m not repeating myself…OK, did that, everything’s cool–we are good to go. See you on the flip side!
Just realized that I started my last blog with almost the exact sentence as the previous one. Dang, that’s embarrassing. Note to self–always reread the previous blog post before posting. Always.
Deviating a bit from my thrift store treasures, this is a portrait of Boo, Bob and Julie’s beloved chocolate lab who passed away about 3 years ago. I did this pen and ink sketch from a beautiful photo Tuyen took. And if I could find that photo I would post it too. But my photos files are not organized in a way that allows me to easily find a particular one. Big surprise.
This was a condolence card. My husband was really pushing for me to post it and since I’m behind on my blog posting AGAIN, I figured OK FINE, might as well. Boo was a good dog. Very sweet. I’m not really a dog person but I can appreciate things about them; their unique personalities, their devotion to their families, those sweet faces, right? I just don’t like the kind of constant attention that dogs are wont to give is all.
I’d like to leave you with a quote by E.B.White from his essay called Bedfellows. He’s reminiscing about a dachshund he had named Fred.
“The only thing I used to find agreeable about him in bed was his smell, which for some reason was nonirritating to my nose and evocative to my mind, somewhat in the way that a sudden whiff of the cow barn or of bone meal on a lawn in springtime carries sensations of the richness of earth and of experience.”
He says that like it’s a GOOD thing. Sweet tribute.
Where does the time go?—GEEZ! I’m having trouble with the enamel camel pendant necklace drawing–try saying THAT ten times fast! So how about looking at this nifty lamp for a while? I found this interesting brass lamp while on a thrift store excursion with my mom. I love the colored glass inserts–it has that Eastern bizarre look to it that I truly DIG. It was all in pieces and had a foreign plug so it needed to be put together and rewired. It languished forgotten in a bag in the basement for a while. For some reason it was not at the top of my husband’s “to do” list. But then he (unbeknownst to me) took it to a fancy lamp shop to be refurbished. They even put an old timey rayon covered cord on it. It was one of my surprise Christmas gifts. So charming. The lamp…and my husband.
Gosh, where does the time go! Seems like I’ve been away for weeks. I’ve been trying to get the porches cleaned up and usable in order to take advantage of our unusually hot, sunny, dry weather. It’s strange, usually it’s so wet and rainy this time of year. Our back yard gets pond-like. But we are getting a taste of the south this year. And actually hoping for some rain to plump up the fresh new greenery.
By the way–a cardinal has built her nest in the grape vines that are tacked to the back porch ceiling–how sweet is that! The downside is that she freaks out when we sit at the table. It was cold and there was no action out there when she selected that choice spot but now it’s a different story. And of course the neighborhood cats are going to be parked out there all stealth-like once the eggs hatch and they hear all the peeping. So then I’ll be guarding the nest and worrying about those babies. Sigh. You know, when they start trying to fly–dipping down too low… I don’t need this kind of STRESS! Yeah, I know, I know–it’s nature’s way, survival of the fittest and all that but I just don’t want to have to WITNESS it on my doorstep. Nature is cruel. What is her problem? Why can’t everybody JUST BE NICE? How hard can it be?
Anyway, back to the third camel buddy here. Camels have such wonderful exaggerated features, don’t they? Like caricatures! And this guy is no exception. He has oodles of personality–a really great face which is probably not as obvious in my rendition but trust me, it is. Very unsymmetrical and unique. He’s about seven inches tall and seems to be carved wood covered with leather. How they do that with no apparent seams? Maybe it’s just real thin leather stretched and glued in place. Such a great thrift store find. Now I have a hankering for some Medjool dates and strong coffee.
OK, here is one of Blue Camel’s buddies. He is about six inches tall and made of stuffed leather, blanket-stitched together with green thread and probably from Libya. He is quite old; I remember playing with him when I was a kid. I liked his silky fringe.
The end. Ha. Honestly, I’ve spent too much time today trying to write something interesting and it is just not happening. Time to move on. I’d rather get on with the next and last camel illustration. Just the three camels. Unless we decide to count the cool enamel camel pendant I have…ooooh–thrift store jewelry–that opens up a whole other world of wonder! And then there will be the elephants.
Isn’t this guy sweet? He’s about seven and a half inches tall, glazed clay and a wonderful turquoise color which my watercolor doesn’t quite capture. I found him at Sally’s–across from the Red Hen Bakery. He’s a little beat up–a few chips–but I was happy to give him a good home. Now he has friends to hang with: two leather camels, a tiger and lots of elephants. Would you like to see them?
Jodi Horchler's sketch blog
Jodi Horchler's sketch blog
theTimidArtist 