Saturday

Profile on Artful Home blog

Artful Life, the blog of Artful Home where I sell a few of my little critters, published a nice little article about me yesterday. 


Monday

I is for......

Hello Beautiful People!
Here we are again with another update from Alphabird! Coming down the homestretch at bird number 16, this piece brings us only ten pieces away from having all our characters for the book. 
I decided to go with the beautiful Indigo Bunting for the letter I. Here's my rhyme:

 I is for Isaac
who pecked out a beat
on a Hawaiian ipu
beneath his small feet.
Here's some of my progress shots:


 And the finished bird from two angles: 


The Ipu is a traditional Hawaiian gourd instrument. I found some interesting videos online about the making of these, as well as the local controversy about whether it should take its rightful place as the official state instrument. What do you think? I say Ipu!

Sunday

G is for....

Hello Beautiful People!
I'm back with another character on this crisp Sunday morning, but first things first--I am excited to finally announce the venue for showing the original artwork and officially launch Alphabird to the world!  The Portland (Oregon) Audubon Society has a wonderful event called the Wild Arts Festival on November 21 and 22.  I'll be holding court there that weekend in conjunction with my alma mater Oregon College of Art and Craft. Click here for more details on the 2015 Wild Arts Festival.
Now on to our next bird--the Goose! 

G is for Gabby
who announced fall migration
by banging her gong
with ecstatic elation
G! A Goose who's Gotta Get Going!
I really wanted to pick the Canadian Goose for this one, but was too attached to the idea of the aviator hat and felt that the simple white goose was more appropriate. 

 And here's our finished gong-playing goose:

 This detail shows the stitching pattern I painted on that aviators cap. There's also a subtle white wing pattern painted on the bird, a feature that will pop when I have these professionally photographed.

 So, as always, I found a video to accompany this update. It's still breakfast/brunch hour as I write this, so be warned that if you're eating while reading this, especially eggs, you might want to hold off until your meal is done. That said, this footage of a goose laying an egg is pretty interesting to this (mostly) city girl. 
Take care,
Hilary

Friday

F is for.....

Hello Beautiful People!
Well, I have finally finished our friend the Flamingo.

 F is for Flossie
who trimmed up her middle
with aerobic routines
on her exer-Fiddle.
F! A Fairly Flexible Flamingo!

 This one was a challenge to make, because the flamingo neck is tough, but I also had to figure out how to merge an exercise bike and a fiddle. 

 I still might try to add a terrycloth headband and a water bottle for the photo shoot, but I like the monarch butterfly tuning pegs a lot. 
Next up will be our fine feathered G friend. For now, I leave you with this video of a rare black flamingo spotted in Cyprus a few weeks ago! 
take care,
Hilary