Hi Everyone,
This newsletter is a day late because I ran into a few problems while I was painting my alpaca. Maybe it was because I experimented. I love to experiment – but when you do something you’ve never done before, you have to accept that it may not work out the way you wanted it to. (When I get frustrated, I try to remember to ask myself this – “Why should it be easy to make an alpaca?”
Kneesaa the Alpaca is Finished
It took a little longer than I thought it would, and I’m not excited about those false eyelashes, but I think she came out OK. Thanks to Eileen for suggesting that it didn’t need to be painted – I did add a light glaze over the paper mache clay, but the only real painting was the eyes, nose and mouth.
You can see how she came out, and see the things I did wrong, here.
The brush pen set I experimented with would probably work well over smooth air dry clay, but the grey and black colors smudge and never seem to fully dry. If you know of a good video that would help me learn how to use them, please leave a comment below the alpaca video. I do think it would be fun to do a parrot or other bright bird, but not until I’ve figured out how to use them.
I spent so much time on the alpaca and the ram this week that I didn’t have time to watch any other videos. The ones shown below are videos that I plan to watch this afternoon, after doing some shopping. I’m behind on almost everything!
That’s why I looked for a video about the life-work balance for artists.
The fellow in this video seems to get it – even though I’ve only seen the first minute or so. We do like to believe that an art business will let us spend every minute doing the things we love, with plenty of spare time for relaxing and spending time with family. But, it doesn’t always work that way…
Holiday sales…
Last week I suggested some paper mache items that might sell well at a craft fair. This lady will explain how to actually set up a booth and sell your crafts to customers. It can be a really fun experience, or really disappointing – so having some expert advice before you head to the fair is a good idea.
There are lots of artists on YouTube sharing their own experience with craft fairs. You can find them by searching for “selling crafts at holiday sales.” And if you have any great tips of your own, please let us know. I used to make a living selling full-time at art fairs, but that was a really long time ago… 🙂
Acrylic paints…
I do hope to do some more colorful sculptures soon – and this video might have some tips that would really help. I love all the other Studio Wildlife videos I’ve seen, so I trust him to give great advice.
If you’ve recently finished a great project, be sure to show it off on the Daily Sculptors page – we’d all love to see how it came out. 🙂
Have a wonderful weekend!
