Beach Vacation Sketchbook .....

 

 

 

 

 

 

" Merlin and the Kirbys"........

Yeah I know.  Sounds like a really obscure rock - n - roll band from the fifties.  But no, it really just refers to Roy and me and our very cool motor home.  We have just returned from a wonderful vacation in Myrtle Beach, at a superb RV Resort located RIGHT ON THE BEACH!!  In the morning we took our chairs and our coffee and sat in the sand, listening to the surf coming in and watching the beach birds.  The pelicans are really my favorite. 
The resort was so big we rented a golf cart for 2 weeks to just travel around and see all they had to offer.  The outside speaker system played music from the 50's and 60's, the weather was so wonderful (as in not cold), and the Quarterdeck Bar and Grill, (right on the beach) served perfectly cooked beach food, all the seafood we could handle.
Our motor home was perfect for the trip and we both agreed that the bed in it is a lot more comfortable than the one in our home! (It might be time for a new mattress!)
Here are a few photographs for your viewing pleasure:

Roy, enjoying his morning coffee .....

 Jack, who travels with us everywhere.  He rode in a bus with us all over Italy last year.

 

 Merlin in all his glory.  I made the string of banners right before we left; fabric, paint, and acrylic jewels.  Very sparkly in the sun!

 The largest Live Oak tree I have ever seen!

 

Resting on a covered deck, watching the ocean and modeling my new beach hat :)

 What is there to say ......

 

 

My next post will show you the small sketches I made while on vacation. 

See you soon!

I am in awe .......

I have NEVER seen roses so psychedelic!  These just arrived from my dear daughter to help us welcome a very long awaited Spring! 

The Transformation of "Carnival Maiden" .....

I have always been fascinated by the embellished mannequins I have seen.  The human form is just asking for decoration!  This winter I took on that creative project and am sharing the process here with you.  I started with a plastic female torso I ordered from EBay. 

 

This is a full body one.  Many of them are front only and are designed to be hung from a wall in a retail store.

Then I went on the search for a head.  Although I could have created a beautiful torso form, I wanted the head to allow  a personality. I think  this one was a used head from a cosmetology student.

The first thing I did was give her a rough haircut, as her face was so sweet and was just not visible with all that hair.

 

I drew with pencil, some basic design lines on the torso, being mindful of the curves and hopefully enhancing her sensual presence.

I selected the colors I wanted to use as the image became  clearer in my mind.

I added the second color and" who she is" started to emerge.

I was glad to see the hair on the head was not glued on, but was actually inserted into the skull.  This made it quite thick.  I took a small paint brush and a can of navy gloss enamel and went for it.  As I painted her hair, I twisted it and pulled it up with the paint brush.   When it dried, she had beautiful stiff spiky hair that glistened!

 

Yes.  This is the look I was hoping for. I carefully drew her face designs and painted them with GOLDEN acrylic paints.  There are three tiny gems glued to the corner of each eye.  Using the other end of the paint brush, I made dots along the edges where the paint colors change. Dots are a favorite design element that you will see in much of my work.

 

 

 

I continued to add colors to the torso.

 

 

 Finally it is coming together, but a very big technical issue is looming; how to securely attach the head to the torso.

 

 The head has been firmly attached to the torso with several screws. The joint between the head and the neck is embellished with some faux pearls painted navy gloss.  On her shoulder is a metal painted butterfly.

 

She needed a special platform to present her in a finished manner.  Roy built a custom base, solid wood, stained with a red mahogany and then sealed with a polyacrylic finish.   She is attached to the  base with eight long screws and is now complete and ready to meet her public.  Are you ready?

 I present

 "Carnival Maiden":

 

 

And Then There Were The Pears .......

These ORIGINAL pieces of art from my studio are for sale in my brand new Etsy shop!  You can view more photographs of them there at :  https://www.etsy.com/shop/JudeKirbyArt
Enjoy, and thanks for stopping by!

A Pear of Lilies .....

" A Pear of Lilies "

paint and paper collage - framed