The inspiring sketches of Leonardo da Vinci

I've had a book of Leonardo da Vinci's paintings and sketches ever since I was ten. Looking at them and copying them has taught me a lot as an artist. He was curious about nature and it shows in his drawing style...the spiral lines he uses to draw water makes you think you can hear it rushing by. This spiralling line also shapes his drawings of men and women.

Inspiring pictures of puppets from the weburbanist

I thought I'd share some cool pictures that I found on a site called the weburbanist. I was looking for 'adult puppets' and they posted an article on several different artists who make them.
here are the artists from top to bottom:Marina Bychova, Julien Martinez, Kerry Kate Patterson, Jan Svankmajer, Elizabeth McGrath,The Brothers Quay, and Beth Robinson

Pics of my brown woman puppet fired! and some new artwork

Here are the pics of my fired brown woman puppet and some new flat clay work which will turn into shadow boxes. Next for the woman puppet is to attach her together like a doll using very small springs so that she can hopefully move...we shall see which will be the best way to do that.

Cool egg pieces from etsy people!

I was browsing on etsy the day before Easter and here are some pieces that I found with an egg theme.
pieces created by:
Handcarved Emu Egg by 1eggman
Dinosaur Eggs Pendant by Marcus Berkner Jewelry
Faceless Dolls by loreleiSF
Egg Sprouts by Revisions
Cream colored egg cocoon by beckys baby crochet

Awesome puppets from etsy sellers

Cool Friday etsy pics of some amazing puppet creations...I hope that you will find them as inspirational as I do!

Here are the artists who made these puppets from the top:
Anipoma Nemorosa and Gusgustavio by SandraArteaGa
Clarissa-a handmade puppet doll by RoseLullabyDolls
FifiBunnyFingerPuppet by mrssewbot
mermaidshadowpuppet by owlyshadowpuppet
MonsterFleeceFingerlessGloves by BoysenberryLane
Zizzor-DecorativePaperPuppetScissors by crankbunny

An update on the slowly drying brown puppet woman!

My slowly drying brown puppet woman is finally fired today! It has been quite a process slowly and carefully making sure that her parts don't crack. Fortunately, the clay that I chose to use which is a terracotta with mica flecks, holds water like a sponge! I originally stopped working with water based clay because I got so frustrated with it drying fast and collapsing or cracking. This terracotta clay is fantastic though! It is great for sculpture because it has ' grog' or big bits of sand that make it more like bricks( ie stronger). I also think that I appreciate water based clay a lot more now so it makes me able to be more patient.
Here are some photos of her drying and when I have photos of what she looks like fired I will post them. Thanks so much for all of your interest in her!
Also, here are a couple of pics of some other work in progress that are going to be in shadow boxes I think...

Crows

I


started reading a book called ' Crow Planet' ( I forget the author) which shows how crows have become as much a part of our lives as our cats or dogs. They have so much personality and this author found that almost everyone she talked to had a crow story of some kind. I was thinking of crows today so I found some images online and on etsy.