one winter baby..and a stranger in the barn

We are celebrating a long awaited winter birth.. Demelza the broody hen has been SITTING for 3 months on a nest with no luck at all. It generally takes 28 days for an egg to hatch...she is either very persistent or very silly.

 Her eggs would mysteriously disappear, or she'd knock them onto the floor where they'd splatter like water balloons. Still, being a broody hen, she would not stop sitting. There would be days, when I would find 4 eggs beneath her warm body, and the next day all the eggs had gone missing. 

      It was a real puzzle and I blamed it on a RAT. I could just imagine that sneaky villain climbing the ladder in the night, a burlap bag slung over his shoulder, sliding his bony, grasping fingers under the unsuspecting sleeping  hen, stealing all the "loot"and slinking back down the ladder. Or, worse still, an entire gang of Bandito rats carrying the bootie to their hideout.
 Nevertheless, I continued to  supply her with fertile eggs (from other hens) out of pity, although it seemed so futile. Then alas! She finally did it, she managed to hang onto ONE egg which produced this one little baby, ever so sweet...

  Congratulations Demelza! We have a wee winter baby.

And now, on to our stranger in the barn. This gorgeous cat appeared in our barn about 2 weeks ago. He/she is just stunning. I made him/her a bed in the loft and leave food each day. I can get close but cannot touch. This cat has obviously avoided the wrath of BORIS. Maybe Boris is steering clear because I clipped his sharp claws and he can't cause trouble.

Beside, Boris has become fat and lazy, thank goodness. I think this cat looks like a "Tallulah", if it's a female and a "Toulouse" if it's a boy. Perhaps this pussycat will keep those Bandito rats at bay!

 This kitty has inspired a few more cat "parts" and the latest is
 this little puss who definitely looks to me like a little pickpocket.

 I think I will name him the "Artful Dodger"

  Very mischievous, don't you think?

WHEW! bring out the Holly and the Ivy, the needle and thread

What a year! I don't know how many events we participated in but it was A LOT, and we are happy to be done with the shows and festivals. Aside from a few local book signings, our season is over and we are free to breathe a sigh of relief and spend the next 4 months doing as we wish.  HURRAH!  Out come the needles, twist, paints, pencils and brushes; it's time to start creating STUFF!

  I will be pouring over the online catalogs to replenish my supplies of Mohair, wool roving, glass eyes and armatures to create the many characters that inhabit "the Hollow". 

My creatures are to be Christened :

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     There was a fabulous artist at the show in PA. who created the most  realistic rabbits out of mohair and felting, her characters had a marvelous look that was all her own. That's  important  in any artistic endeavor. It's great to be inspired by
other artists, but in the end, one needs to create their own style, hopefully a distinctive style that will stand out in the crowd on it's own merit.
This is especially true of sculpted critters, because their are so many wonderful doll and bear artists. Therefore, I have been practicing on my animal heads until I have them looking as I think they should.

              I have this  pile of Head blanks I had sewn from ordinary wool fabrics and  plush felt.
These, I am using to build upon with Wool roving, embroidery thread and mohair.

 My goal is to accomplish the same feat I aim for in my illustration; that is, a blending of realism with  whimsical anthropomorphic fantasy. You know, Hopalong Hollow-ish?

  It will require a good deal of  trial and error, I am still new at this.

Lopsided faces, perhaps... but then, few of us have a perfect face, right?

When I painted the 400 rabbits in my first book, I somehow managed to give each individual bunny a unique look... or maybe I just couldn't replicate the same rabbit over and over again?

Getting those eyes on straight can be a real pain sometimes.

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I am getting a chuckle with this little bear and his extremely long nose; needs some long fur surrounding his muzzle, I'll add that as I go.

So far, I like him, he has personality.

 
Below is my first squirrel, so it will require a lot more practice, looks a little messy right now.

I am using my own storybooks for reference pictures,

and I know that little squirrelys have tiny hump noses, large black eyes with a heavy lid and small ears with a pointed tip.
Hmmm, looks more like a chipmunk? Well, he/she won't look a bit like a chipmunk when I give her/him a long bushy tail!

Practice make perfect... or perfectly imperfect.

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I predict this little Bushybottom will be an aggressive collector of acorns.

Are these boys or girls? I don't know until I try a variety of hats upon those noggins, then I will know for sure.

 This is a lot of fun and a natural progression for me in my art life, for I dearly love animals. That is why I paint them, write stories about them and have a farm full of all creatures great and small. What a fun journey to begin adding to the population of Hopalong Hollow with fat and fuzzy and feathered creatures!
In addition to this project, I have a few more on the burner, including my own punch needle kits and the beginning illustrations for my 4th book. I will update as things progress. So happy to be back to the blog world. Now, time to visit all of you whose posts  I have missed out on for weeks! See you soon my friends, fondly from the Hollow, Jeri