The Nessie Award

Hi! Oh look - something not on paper!

Today I'll share my feeble attempt at making a 3D toy for a recent assignment. We were given 3 wooden parts - a rectangle, a rod, and a ball and we had to come up with a character and make a toy. We could change the parts and add to them as we saw fit. Imagination and skills were the limit. And Amanda Visell an Michelle Valigura were our class mentors, if the project wasn't daunting enough.

The way I went about this project though is by staying faithful to the given parts and letting them help dictate my character. (I'm also not that great with using my hands, and I'm quite weary of power tools. But I honestly did like the approach of keeping my original shapes somewhat candid)

At first I came with with some creatures like an ornately patterned giraffe, a fancy ostrich, a Loch Ness monster and a 'dragon-fly'.

Then I decided to go with the Loch Ness monster idea and sketched out some variations of what it could look like:

I picked the Celic Nessie. Surprise, surprise, as I have a deep fascination with the Celtic and Nordic cultures and art.

I also thought that by going with this option I could make up with painting knot-work that which I lacked with carving and molding. And if there were flaws they would actually work with the theme. You know -- if something was hand-made a long time ago, it's bound to have some bumps and scratches right?

So in the end I ended up with this, as I've posted at the beginning:

I give you my interpretation of the Celtic depiction of the fierce Loch Ness Monster, immortalized as the "Nessie Award".  Each year all the Celtic clans would gather for a great feast and award the Nessie Award to the clan who has sunk the most enemy ships at sea. Although the mystic Nessie was most frequently seen at Loch Ness, it was also rumored to be spotted roaming the salty ocean realms.

I created the general shape of character by trimming, sawing and sanding the provided parts. I then molded the muzzle, horns, tongue, scales, legs, and tail out of air drying clay. I also created some ships as accessories. I painted all the parts with acrylic paints and then super-glued them together.

And look - I made some tiny ships to go with it:

I'll see if I can fix it up some more later (for my own sake of mind) and take some photos with it outside.

*Now I'm off to relax and celebrate my birthday. I'm 22 today! I like the sound of being 21 better, but maybe this will be a better year nonetheless!

Happy Sunday to everyone!

Playing Outside With Imagination and Pride

Happy Saturday!

So, today I'm sharing with you a revisit of some ideas and themes I worked with last spring. My inspiration comes from my childhood memories of enjoying imaginative play-times outside. Currently I'm using those ideas and themes and reworking them into a collection of illustration + poetry spreads which will hopefully turn into a nice book sometime =)

"Little Lilac Ladies"

Ancient myths say mystic powers
Are given to some lilac flowers.
Those having five petals or more
Store magic wishes at their core.

This piece alludes to how my friends and I would comb through lilac bushes in search of 5 petaled flowers because supposedly they had wish granting powers!

 And some process steps:

Inked floral work

Painted floral work

Again, the finished piece

"Helping Hands"

When spring returns back to the land,
Little birds could use a hand
With making cozy, tidy nests
For themselves and for their guests.

This illustration reflects how in the spring my friends and I would build nests out of grass to help the birds out :)

(rhymes + illustrations are all by me)

Size: 11x17"
Media: Waterproof inks + watercolour + gouache + microns