A Few More Critters

I've been designing a few more variations on the animal-kid theme:

On my recent teaching trip to Victoria, I bought some "foxy" coloured viscose fur and some white - I really wanted to design and make a fox. Here's what I came up with:

I also made a little white bear - not quite as challenging as the fox, but cute too! These are such fun to make.

A Little Designing

I've made quite a few of these little children in animal outfits - just rabbits and hedgehogs so far. I've also taught a few classes to show people how to make their own. Now I've been designing a few more variations…..the fox will be next.

A Foray Into Zebradom

It's amazing how a very small thing can trigger an entire body of work, or an artistic detour.......for me it was this birthday card ("Baby and Zebras" designed by Suzan Visser for Edition inkognito) given to me recently by one of my sisters:

 I love zebra patterning, but what triggered something and set the thinking-wheels in motion was the tiny child on the zebra's back. A series of anthropomorphic animals! The first would be a zebra: here is the planning drawing and the head I made for it:

 

I made a cloth body with hip knee and shoulder joints - it needed to be as well-made as I could make it, as the doll would be unclothed and the fabric body would be on show, albeit with a striped livery that might disguise a few flaws! Here is the doll assembled before painting:

 

Then I went to town painting the stripes - that was fun! I used lots of zebra pictures as references and made a bit of it up as I went along. I cut a slit in the top and the back of the head to insert alternate pieces of black and white fur fabric for the mane......I never realized before that a zebra's mane follows the stripes in colouration.

 

 

 

I'm planning a fox next.