New Journal: Trip to Amsterdam

Hi guys!

It is finally the time to reveal the Amsterdam inspired journal that I have to create for a mother of one of my clients. She loved the view of colourful houses she saw in Amsterdam while traveling and so her son decided to give her a memorable gift of a place they both went together. Isn't that amazing how caring some children can be?

I took this picture as an inspiration for a water reflection and the other picture you see bellow was a colour scheme choice of my client. 

He wanted the street view, but I understood that the only way it will work on a vertical portrait format is a water reflection. First of all this will make the composition right and second I was itching to try and make my very first water reflection on polymer clay. I knew it was possible so I challenged myself to do it!

This again was one of these projects that won't look right from the very beginning until almost very end. I did stress a lot and constantly asked for guidance from my trusted clay friends and Ash. He might not know a lot about clay, but as an artist he could tell me if something looked right or wrong. So as you can see, first I had a very childish beginning where my houses looked so funny and when Ashley came into the room he said : "Ooou! Beach huts scene! Nice".. I slapped myself on the forehead and told him that this will be a nightmare of a project :) 

 

I tried hard and I used textures, shapes, forms, vegetation, flower beds, but without a paint work this artwork still looked like a kids design. I decided that I will complete it no matter how it will look. I just have to trust the guiding spirit! 

It was nice to discover in the process some simple but very effective techniques for creating multiple windows with complicated frames and how to texturise a miniature trees. 

As you can see on the picture bellow, I used Dots & Scratches tool for the trees and I used some rectangular cardboard pieces to press them into the clay. When you pull the off clay, you get a lovely even square imprint. And to make it look even more detailed, I searched for something that has a square type section. It happened to be a simple match :) And so I pressed it into each window multiple times to create window frames and small window sections. That was a lot of fun and eased the process of sculpting very much!

I couldn't wait to start the painting as all my hopes relayed on it! 

And finally when the journal was finished I could see that it worked out well. Especially if you look at it from a little bit of a distance, it looks like a painting and this made me really happy!

And here are some larger close up shots. Click on these to zoom in. Especially the close ups as you will then see more details, like a little bike under the tree for example. I loved making it so much. It is only 8mm long.

Thank you so much for reading, 

I always appreciate your input and comments, otherwise why would I bother writing and showing all this? This if for you :) 

Thank you, 

Journal: White Shepherd Dog A5

Hello everyone! 

I've been quite busy working on custom orders and other projects and I said I will be away from social media and internet for a while, but it seems like this is not happening. I am here, writing this post :) 

I would like to show you some work in progress of my German Shepherd Dog Journal in A5 size. It is still not finished, but I managed to finish the front cover, so can show it off. Sorry for iPhone quality pictures. As I said, professional ones will come sometime later. 

So I begun with tracing the outline of the dog's head onto white clay. I used creaseproof paper as I didn't have a proper tracing paper. I figured this way it will be tidier than trying to draw, cut, smudge imperfections on white clay. You know how tricky it is!

Next I added up some volume to a flat piece and used rubber shapers and ball tools to even and smudge it all out. It was hard working with white clay that was put onto black clay surface!!! Such a dirty job! I was washing my hands but still clay got mucky! I wasn't too sad about it as I knew I will be painting over it!

For the fur I had chosen to use the Dots & Scratches tool, but it seems like it didn't work well on my white clay. It usually does work really well, but not on this chalky white clay. Did you know I really don't like white clay! :)

So after creating all this unnecessary crumbly clay fur, I thought I need to fix it, perhaps smudge and smooth some little hairs into longer and larger strands or hair. I used the tool you see in this picture and it was a great find. I never knew how to use this tool really and only used a needle tool on the other side of it. So it was a great discovery!

I also struggled with the background design. Sometimes I go into the artwork unprepared and make mistakes. Like this time, I didn't do the background properly first as I didn't know how it will look. I thought it will unravel  itself in the process. So first I tried to stamp some textures in the black areas but it didn't look right. I smoothed it all back in and decided to use these clay strands to make swirls. It worked, and so I continued and decorated the bottom of the composition with green leaves to make an appearance of some sort of place, space and perspective. 

The idea of this journal was quite unique. My customer wanted to have a magical white shepherd dog with some magical features. We found this picture online which inspired us both and we agreed to work from it. Unfortunately there was no author of this picture mentioned anywhere so I can't say who is an original painter of this artwork. 

Then came the happy times of Mica Painting! I love working with Mica powders and they create such a change. Couple of my latest artworks are a complete nightmare to me, as they don't look right until almost the very end. This is because they require paint job of mica painting, so you won't be able to see the final result until the very end. But in the very end, after all the tones and shades, colours and shimmers were applied, the dog finally turned out magical, with a smart look in his eyes. I don't like praising myself and for some reason I always see flaws in my work, but I am very pleased on how the look on the dog's face ended up being so realistic. I love his face, I love the avatar-like surroundings and all the magic atmosphere that there is around.

I guess this is it. I will post up some good quality pictures later on next month when I am finished, when photos are taken and I have a chance to edit them to a quality standard I always provide.

Thanks a lot for reading, 

Have a wonderful day, 

Giraffes for sale!

Hello everyone! :)

Unfortunately this journal didn't reach the sale price and the action didn't succeed, but the good news is that this journal is now available for sale!

YOU CAN BUY IT HERE!