The mystery project

I've been working on the latest paper maché project all week. I love the medium but you do need the patience of Job with all the drying time needed between sculpting sessions.
This one is starting to take shape...can you tell what it is? I'll divulge perhaps on the next posting!

Parker, pumpkin bread, paper maché...and pee

It was one of those jam packed Wednesdays where you fall into bed and say to yourself "wow, what a day!"
I started off by doing some yoga with an Instagram video I found with model Parker Hurley...I brought my yoga mat out onto the back deck and did a lot of good stretching, it was a beautiful morning to get limber. You can see his video here.



Next I decided with Fall only one day away it was a good time to make some pumpkin bread with a recipe I found the other day that sounded pretty good. It used brown butter and bourbon, a couple of unexpected ingredients. The loaf turned out great.



My next paper maché project is underway. I'm not going to divulge what it is yet. I'm only going to say that it's going to be unlike anything else I've done, more dark and mysterious, a complete departure. Here's a picture of the initial stage...stay tuned for updates...





I went to the beach because it was such a beautiful afternoon. There was practically no one there, maybe 5 people tops. I'm reading that huge doorstop of a book, the biography of Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow, it's good, but dense. As I was reading a man was walking his dog on the beach. The dog ran up to my canvas bag, lifted his leg, and proceeded to PEE on my bag!! I quickly yanked it away before he could cover it completely. The man ran up and apologized profusely, "I'm SO sorry...I apologize...did he get you?" I gave him a snarly smile and said "It's okay". Now I'm mad at myself for not giving him a bigger piece of my mind. What's WITH dog owners? If you can't control your dog, KEEP IN ON A LEASH. So rude. I quickly picked up my things and was ready to leave anyway.  It was such dumb thing that marred an otherwise nice time.



I came home and had some leftovers, a beef stroganoff I made the other day. And then I got a text from an old friend, Walt, who wanted to get together. I hadn't seen him in quite a while. We met up at his place in Southampton and had a good time, but I didn't get home til 1:00 in the morning. A good ending to memorable day.

This little piggy...pt. 2

I finished the piggy bank yesterday, very happy with the way he turned out. He's gonna hold a lot of change! My sister asked me how I'd get the change out once he's filled. I said "I guess you bust him open!", but that will be quite a while from now.
Here's how he looked as I first started to paint him, white paint first:







Then I started to add the pink and black colors...you may notice that I decided not to give him eyes. I thought just going all black on the face would be more graphic and modern, more like a piece of sculpture and less 'cartoon-y' (even tho I have to admit those temporary eyes I drew on quickly were adorable):





And the final result, all shiny and Mod Podged!









The most important feature, the coin slot!



But where to put this thing now? I decided it felt most right in the dining room, on the sideboard that doubles as the 'bar', where in the cupboard underneath I keep wine bottles and my KitchenAid stand mixer. The pig now feels a little "country kitch-ey", something I vowed NEVER to do, but I'm just gonna go with it for now. I have to say I do love how the pink of his snout and ears bring out the pink flowers in that little painting above the sideboard.





UPDATE: Of course Piggy had to make an appearance on my Instagram feed, here he is:

The sideboard

Years ago I bought a sideboard for the house, a black chest with two drawers at the top, one large drawer at the bottom, and storage in between behind two doors. At first I used it in the living room. Then I eventually got tired of it and it was relegated to the basement for years. Then a few years ago I resurrected it for the dining room; I painted it a soft celadon green to go with the other green tones in that room. My initial idea was to 'age' it a bit by sanding the edges and applying a dark wax to fill in the crannies and crevices to give it that antique Ye Olde look. Well, the best laid plans of mice and men...I never got around to it and there it sat in the dining room for years with that fresh coat of paint on it. It wasn't bad looking necessarily, just not my original vision.
Then this Labor Weekend my friend Jim came to visit. He's very handy and loves to do projects to occupy his time when he's here at the house. He's a generous soul who loves to help, but I think it's also a form of therapy that's relaxing for him, a way to burn off excess energy. So when he asked--as he usual does when he visits--"Do you have any projects for me to do?" I thought he'd do a great job of re-finsihing the sideboard. And a good job he did! He distressed it with sanding blocks and worked in just the right amount of the wax. It looks aged to perfection. I'm very pleased with the outcome.
Here are some 'before' pictures of it:







And here's the finished project:





Here are a couple of closeups so you can see Jim's handiwork in detail:





Finally, here's the sideboard-cum-bar with all the tchotchkes back on top in front of the mini gallery wall in the dining room. I love it!

This little piggy...

I decided the other day that all my excess change was building up too much, overflowing the change drawer of the demilune table in the living room.  I needed a solution: a piggy bank. It would be my next paper maché project! (It helps to have time on your hands, that's a big benefit of being unemployed).
I've been working on it for a few days and it's proving to be a much easier project than most of my past paper maché efforts. That's because the shapes of,  let's call him "Wilbur", are so simple. His body is a classic balloon oval, the legs are paper towel tubes,a nd the snout is a curved piece of cardboard. Oh, and the tail is a little twist of paper and masking tape. Easy.
He still needs a little finessing to reinforce the ears a bit more (I'm nervous they're not strong enough yet), and some little rough edges here and there that need to be smoothed out. I haven't decided on eyes yet, whether I'll use some marbles or simply draw them on, stay tuned for that and the overall paint scheme. I do know that he won't be pink. He'll be cooler than that, I'm thinking one of those black pigs with the white stripe around his front haunches, like this:



Here's a series of photos that show the progress so far...a future post will show the paint scheme and finished piece.