Today's progress

So here are the previous doggie parts assembled (on the right), with the Visla on the left.  Next is a head for the Short hair, and some eyes and ears for the Visla.

Sarge got a nice coat of black gesso yesterday too.  I prefer black because I usually give my piece a final wash of black after the paint job is done, and if any of the gesso is still showing through it blends into the wash.

OK.....So here we go right from scratch. Another doggie to go with the Visla.  This one is a German Short hair.  One body and four legs taped up from newspapers and coat hangers.  I put the paper mache on these pieces this morning so they will dry over night and I can fit them together tomorrow.  I've been making the heads after the body is assembled so I get them built to the proper scale.

Here is Sarge.  He's about 30 inches tall and ready for primer tomorrow.  Cool boots he has on, aye? 

And last but not least is Jethro the giraffe.  He's finally getting his spot pattern.....kind of a pinky/raspberry color.  I debated for about a week what color to paint his spots....I was always talking myself out of pink, even though that's what I first wanted to use.  So I went with the pink, and studio cat Boo-Boo approves.
  You know if I only had a bigger studio, I could get so much more "stuff" out!  More tomorrow.

Here's Kitty.............

I did this piece as a donation for the Humane Society Fund Raiser's silent auction.  It's called Kitty, and it is a compilation of all the different colored cats the Humane Society has helped with their Spay/Neuter clinics here in Hawaii.  He is about 16 inches tall, and I really enjoyed blending the assorted "cat patterns" together into a unique and artistic piece.

This is Jethro

Here is a giraffe that is in the paint shop.  He's about 4 foot tall.  I'm going to try and get his spot pattern on him real soon as he takes up a lot of room in the studio.  I'm going to tape up a second dog body to go with the previous one, which I will post asap.  We also have a chicken I call Sarge ready for primer.  He'll be making an appearance by weeks end.

Visla

 I have been working on a commissioned piece...... A Visla.  These dogs have a very regal look about them with elegant lines to their bodies.  I first made a body, which you can see is fully paper mached.  Now I am taping on a head with newspapers and tape, with my faithful studio cat in the background supervising......or waiting for dinner.
  I try to get as close as I can with the tape ups, but never worry about being exact as it is pretty hard to do with the squishy crunched up newspaper.  After a layer of paper mache, the head will be solid and I can fine tune it by adding or subtracting as needed.

 I am going to try and be more diligent posting so you can see the step by step progress of this (and other) projects.

Is he big enough yet? YES

Now that we've fattened up Hoegarth (his name so far), I have started detailing out his legs a little, elbows first, then the cloved feet.  This part to me is a bit of a grind, as I don't care for doing legs and feet.........there's just too darn many of them.  But on we go.  I will say I am looking forward to the paint job at the end.

This little piggie was too little

My next project....a piggie I started this guy in my hotel room on the mainland.  When I got him home, he just looked to small.  Time for a little piggie surgery.  Tomorrow I will post him in the recovery studio!