PFATT Marketplace Update, Oct. 10

BOTH SOLD- Thank you!
Wow, are you sick of me yet?  Seems like I've been putting my work out there for sale more this past week than any other time this year.  Just two more pieces and I promise I'm done for awhile!

PFATT Marketplace will have two works available.  One is a very special orb.  This is only the 6th orb I have created since I began Monkey-Cats Studio.  They are very time consuming and average somewhere between 60 and 65 hours just to paint the figures on the piece.  There are 4 figures that form the major decoration of the orb with a Ms. Moon forming the night sky above them and the bust of a skelly figure completing the bottom of the piece.  The orb is paper mache painted in acrylic paints and sealed in a matte polymer varnish.

This is Winnie Wicked, with her little kitten, Midnight;

Voltaire Vampire with his companion, Ding-Bat;

 Maximilian Moon and Moon-beam;

 and Punkin' head Petey on his way to the Ghoulie Gras.

Ms. Moon forms the sky above the figures

and Slim Pickens skelly oversees the nether regions of the orb.

I'm very happy with this orb and hope you agree!

The second piece being offered is a skelly candy cup complete with candy corn and pumpkins.

PFATT Marketplace opens at 10 a.m. Pacific time (which is 11-Mountain time, noon-Central and 1 p.m. Eastern)  Here is a link to get you directly to my page.

http://www.pfattmarketplace.com/monkeycats.html

I would also like to share with you that I have a 6-page article in PRIMS magazine currently on the newsstands.  I'm thrilled to be included in the pages of this magazine and hope that you get a chance to see the article.  It includes Halloween works...of course!

Thank you to all of you that have supported me through this wonderful Halloween season through your kind words and purchases.  It always helps to have support to keep those creative juices flowing and I hope to bring you new and more creative works in the seasons ahead!

Laurie

Enjoying the Fall Weather

The past few days have ushered in cooler temperatures to the Plains, and it has me anxious to do some fall decorating.  Hubby grew pumpkins this year, including some "blue" pumpkins so I'm hoping to have a few of those to place on the porch with the big orange varieties.  I'm trying not to get ahead of myself too much since it is only mid-September, but with night temperatures to be in the 30s tonight, it's hard not to think autumn is here.  Perhaps I need to calm down a bit and just have a cup of hot chocolate!    

The weather has also inspired me to finish up the pieces for Ghoultide Gathering.  Yesterday I finished the last time consuming piece for the show so I thought I would share a few photographs. 

There are four figures that surround the piece and this is one of them, a little witch figure, Willendorf Wicked.  Willy, as her family calls her, is still a child at heart and continues to carry her pumpkin doll.  She is a kindhearted witch, but a word of warning, don't let her her sweet face fool you, she is a prankster.

To Willy's side is Spidey Pumpkin.  He loves those eight-legged arachnids and plays yo-yo and web games with them daily.  His room would scare most mothers, but Spidey wouldn't have it any other way. 

The last photograph is the bottom of the orb.  I painted a little lumina pumpkin character placed against a night sky to finish the piece.  I love pumpkins so it just seemed to be the right thing to complete the work.

There is a night sky and two other characters not shown in this post...I want to have a few surprises for the collectors at Ghoultide to look forward to.

Hope your weather is feeling more like fall too!

Laurie

Hunky-Dory

This Saturday, September 10th, which also just happens to be my birthday, I will have one Halloween work available on PFATT Marketplace at 10 a.m. Pacific time.  His name is Hunky-Dory, because in his world everything is just hunky-dory, and karma seems to smile upon him.

He is only the fourth fully sculpted Halloween figure I have offered this year so if you are unable to attend Ghoultide Gathering, this will be the only other piece offered in September.

He has long sculpted fingers holding his candy bucket and carrying his jack-o'-lantern companion.  Hunky-Dory is just under 16" in height, and is made of paper mache, wood and wire and comes painted in acrylic paints sealed with a matte polymer varnish.

I have been in contact with a school counselor, and 1/2 of the selling price of Hunky-Dory will be given to a local elementary school that I think will benefit from the proceeds of the sale.  The staff at the school has repeatedly proven to go above and beyond for their students so I am thrilled to be able to help in a small way.  We are so blessed to have such devoted teachers and staff in our community.

I also want to mention that my thoughts and prayers are going out to all Americans suffering from the flooding and damage caused by Irene and Lee, and the drought related fires in Texas and California.  It breaks my heart to watch the weather related emergencies unfold on television, and makes me wish I had really deep pockets to assist more people in need. Lets all hope that the tropical depressions currently in the Atlantic do not find our shores.  

Have a wonderful weekend and here is wishing you all the weather that you need wherever you live.

Laurie 

Pumpkin Boy WIPs

I have been working on finishing a group of 11 figures in paper mache this past week.  It always amazes me how long it takes to add their little fingers, boots and "extras" to help them develop a personality.  Below, are two of the pumpkin boy figures that are almost completed in paper mache.  The figure on the left is waiting for his scepter head, but he has failed to tell me yet what it needs to be so currently it is just a stick.  I suspect from the way he is holding that stick it needs to be a cane so he can tap dance the night away.  Doesn't he look like he wants to dance?...and 5-6-7-8, (insert Fred Astaire singing- )

"I'm puttin' on my top hat,

Tyin' up my white tie,

Brushin' off my tails.

I'm dudin' up my shirt front,

Puttin' in the shirt studs,

Polishin' my nails...."

Okay, that just gave me the solution!!  I love it when things work that easily!

Have a great week...I'm off to sculpt the top of Fred's cane!!
Laurie

Finishing Up Work for Ghoultide Gathering

The last push to finish up things before packing them up for the trip to Ghoultide Gathering has been going on in my studio.  Below is "Gregory Gourdhead", the only figure on a painted stand I will have for the show.  As usual, time just got away from me and the other poor heads will have to wait for their bodies to be finished at another time.  I love doing these figures because they allow me to sculpt and paint on the paper mache head in contrast with painting the body on a nice smooth surface.  I would love to do a number of them so that the heads could be moved from base to base onto different bodies to play with the display, but that will have to happen at a later date. 

Something new this year is a Skelly Head Box shown below with three new candy buckets I was able to recently complete.  The Skelly Head box can be used as a candy container or for storing any number of things on a shelf or tabletop.  The new little candy buckets shown have a Monkey-Cat, Moon Boy and Witch to add to the characters I have already painted on some earlier buckets.  I have two buckets left to finish and then I am done with my Ghoultide pieces.

I was also able to finish the second round bodied candy container for the year.  It is similar in design to the original candy container, but because they are hand sculpted and painted they are still quite different when placed side-by-side. 

There probably won't be a post next week as I'll be madly packing and boxing pieces getting ready to leave for the show.  If you aren't familiar with Ghoultide Gathering please click on the link in the upper left column of my blog page.  I am so thrilled to be a participating artist in such a wonderful show.  Think about making the trip...it is sure to not disappoint!!
Laurie

Another Ghoultide Gathering peek

Wizards have always said that some pumpkin boys are grown on the vine, and some are hatched, but the pumpkin boys I have always known have all been vine grown.   I  have to admit I dismissed the hatching tale as folklore.  Imagine my surprise when I was told about "Hatch D. Lumina", a new pumpkin boy hatched from a jack-o-lantern.  Yes, that's right, pictures were taken showing the little fellow springing fully grown, clothed and carrying a JOL party mask for the upcoming Pumpkin Ball.

"Hatch", as his friends call him, has maintained his birthing jack-o-lantern and uses it to snuggle into during the day with his spider and other crawly friends.  Every evening he can be found popping back out of the cracked opening to locate his spooky companions of the night to prepare for an evening of fun and mischief.  He isn't terribly naughty, but when you see a worm floating in the Halloween punch, you don't have to ask who is responsible.

"Hatch" is really excited about his trip to Michigan to meet and party with the many mischief makers to be found at Ghoultide Gathering.  Hope you can come and introduce yourself to the him!

Have a great day!
Laurie

Making Progress

Painting, sculpting some final details and making some progress. I have finally learned I need to be painting on several pieces at once so that as I'm waiting for one surface to dry I still have another to work on. As you can see the heads and faces are one of the first things to be painted because the face tells me so much about what that figure's character is going to be like and what he or she would like to be wearing.

I still have a lot to get done , but I'm feeling much better about getting what I need to get done, done. With that said I better get some paint on the figures that still have too much white surface showing!

More peeks to come!
Laurie

August Already?!!

I'm not in a state of panic yet, but I have a lot of work to get done between now and October 2!! If I'm a little less frequent with posting, please understand that I'm in the studio building the inventory for the upcoming Ghoultide Gathering show in Michigan. Where has the summer gone?

These are a few of the pieces I have drying and today's scheduled sculpting includes witches and vampires. So much to do and under 60 days to get it all done.

Wish me luck!!! (I see some long days ahead in my future!)
Laurie

New Work on EHAG Emporium

This figure measures 14.5” x 6” x 6.5”
The head is made of paper mache and sits on top of a wooden base decorated with a hand-painted torso of the little figure hugging his beloved Pumpkin doll and treat bucket. The head is independent from the base allowing
for it to be tipped and positioned as the mood suits you.


This is not the first piece I have created using a wood base as a painting surface on which to paint the torso, but it is one of the more unusual pieces in the Monkey-Cats’ 2010 collection.

Also unique to this piece is the button shaped nose of the pumpkin head.

This piece will come fully signed, numbered and dated.
“I Love My Pumpkin Doll” will be available to the first customer to email me at: monkeycatsstudio@charter.net.

SOLD...thank you!!!

As always, thank you for your consideration!

Laurie

EHAG Emporium Saturday Night

Sneak peek at my piece being offered tomorrow night, July 31, at 9 p.m. on the EHAG Emporium. A little Halloween fellow is in love with his little pumpkin doll and holds him close to his heart.

Hope you like him!

Laurie

EHAG Emporium

On Sunday, January 31, at 9 EST, the EHAG Emporium will have its debut!!! What is the EHAG Emporium you ask? Well, it is a new online opportunity for you to find original works of Halloween whimsy and art created by members of the Eclectic Halloween Artists Group. Click on the logo below and it will take you to this new site for you to get sneak peeks of some of the offerings on Sunday, as well as the list of artists participating this month. This is a "do not miss" opportunity!!! Great talent in this group!

Okay, this is a little self-serving, I am a member of EHAG and I am participating in this venture. Caught me!!

This is a sneak peek of "Jakey-Boo", my offering on the EHAG Emporium. Jakey is a little pumpkin head boy and Boo is his trusty-rusty skull headed scepter. Possibly another peek tomorrow, but you have to wait until Sunday to see the entire piece!

Have a great weekend and don't forget to come visit us on Sunday!

Laurie

SpookyTime Jingles Updates Tonight!!!!!!!

The November update for SpookyTime Jingles is tonight at midnight!!! I have one little jingle, Phineas the "Elf in the Ornie", and two little spooky-jingles....


the "Christmas Count" and "Pumpkin Claus." These three pieces will be available tonight at midnight on that very special marketplace!!

We can all use a little jingle in our lives... don't you think?! Hope to hear from you at midnight Eastern time (11 Central, 10 Mountain and 9 Pacific).

Have a great day!

Laurie

Alphonse

This Lumina pumpkin boy is "Alphonse." "Alphonse" makes his living at the stylish fashion house, "Bats -and -More," where all the pumpkin boys, ghouls, witches and beings of the night acquire their fine attire. (I mentioned this earlier when I introduced you to the little pumpkin boy in the piece, "I Want This One") "Alphonse" loves putting together bits and pieces of discarded mummy cloth, owl feathers, spider webs, hairballs, rat whiskers, ear wax, etc., and spinning and weaving them into new fabrics to adorn the bodies of his clients. He is quite the designer and takes pride in his personal appearance as well.

"Alphonse" is shown in one of his many designs inspired from the night sky. In this grouping, he selected the theme of the stars and placed them on his cape, kerchief and magician's cap. He then selected a coordinating vest and bow tie that accentuate, but don't detract from the star motif, plus he added a cat bucket with small stars in which he could carry his Halloween treats, and yet it compliments the total look. (A classic functional style accessory. ) If you asked him....he would tell you it was just a little something he threw together!!

"Alphonse" also loves to travel so he will be taking a trip to California...wish him luck that some fashion diva needs to give him a new home. He would love to do Tim Gunn proud!!!

Have a great weekend!!
Laurie

Augustus Lumina with Cyrus, His Cat Scepter

I had a good day yesterday and finished the painting on another new figure for Halloween and Vine. Let me introduce you to little "Augustus Lumina", a magician cousin in the Lumina (pumpkin) family. He loves Halloween and wears the number 31 proudly on his magician cap, as you can see below, to honor the date of Halloween. He also is shown carrying his trusty-rusty cat scepter, Cyrus, to help him perform his magic.

Augustus isn't a magician of the dark arts....he likes to think of his magic as falling somewhere in the light to medium gray area. He does relatively harmless acts of magic such as turning gummy worms into actual worms in children's candy (no sugar so it's healthier for the teeth), turning cell phones into frogs (you don't need to be talking on them all the time anyway), removing the white stripe on a skunk to make it look like a cat (they need a little scratch behind the ears too), and making naughty children grow horns until they change their ways (an incentive to be a better person)...things of that sort. You might actually refer to him as more of a magician of mischief more than anything else.

Augustus had his mother decorate the back of his cape and wanted to show off her handy work so here is a back view.

Such an innocent little face for such a mischievous little fellow. Keep an eye out for him on Halloween night because your bag of candy might not end up being candy after he cast a spell on it, so look carefully as you unwrap each piece!

Have a great day!
Laurie

"I Want This One"

Our recent cool weather has made it very easy to be in the "fall" mode of thinking so naturally that has had an influence on my Halloween pieces. The day I sculpted "I Want This One," I had driven by the local Farmer's Market and remembered what it is like in the fall to see the children running to the pumpkins to pick out their special treasure. I think you all of seen their little faces light up as they gingerly carry their new treasure to their mother or father and announce, "I want this one." Well, that is what I was trying to capture when sculpting and painting little Seymour shown below.


I tried to give him the face of an innocent child totally involved with his new affection for a Halloween pumpkin. Will he be able to cut into it and make a jack-o'-lantern, or is it too precious for him to cut through it's skin to make a scary face? Only Seymour knows....but I'm betting this little pumpkin isn't destined for the knife.


Lots of little details in his long spindly vine-like fingers wrapped around the selected pumpkin, and something in Seymour's demeanor required a German glass glitter covered bow. His little sweater vest even carries the logo of the very fashionable house of "Bats-n-more", where all of the little pumpkin children receive their clothing.


To coordinate with his stylish bow tie, Seymour has just a touch of ribbon glitter at the base of his magician's cap. Now, how could you say no to such an impish little fellow? You know he got his choice of pumpkins!!!

Seymour hopes that your children and grandchildren all get to experience the thrill of pumpkin selection this fall!! I hope you remember him and his joy everytime you see a pumpkin on a porch or in a window this fall!!

Have a great day and now it is back to the paint for me!!

Laurie

Painted Orb WIP

What have I been up to? Well, I started on this orb over the 4th of July weekend and I have been painting little details on it as I have time. I thought it was far enough along to share a few pictures of it evolving. The top is a painted spiderweb sky with stars and swirls in the very lowest portion of the black background. I have also finished painting Goddard, the pumpkin boy, holding his skelly balloon and a little row of jack-o'-lanterns off to his left.

I have been having such fun glazing over the cream colored background making the lumps and bumps of the paper mache more visible. I really love that quality of paper mache and I am so glad I discovered the material I'm currently working with. It is very forgiving of my scrubbing (don't read this Carolee) with my paint brushes and fingers.

I obviously have much more to do on this sphere, but thought it might be fun to see it develop over the next few days.

Have a great week!
Laurie

Bertram Goodhue on STJ

Have you ever heard a name and you just liked it....well, that is what happened to me when I first heard the name Bertram Goodhue when I was in the 4th grade. Who was he? Well, he was an American architect and he designed the State Capitol building in Lincoln, Nebraska. I love that building with it's mosaics and murals and perhaps that is why I never forgot his name.

When I finished the lumina pumpkin figure below, the name Bertram Goodhue jumped in my head and wouldn't go away (no, I don't hear voices!!). So I decided his face was made up of "good hues" and certainly Bertram was a great name, so why not?!! The name seems to suit him for some reason.

Bertram is shown above with his spindly vein fingers holding onto his skelly bucket, and below you can see a close up. Lots of good little details on this piece.

Betram is going on SpookyTime Jingles this month. As part of supporting the Kearney Area Humane Society, 10% of his purchase price will be given to them for their good work in the name of his buyer.

Bertram thanks you for your consideration. Again, this is the 1st Anniversary for SpookyTime Jingles (updates at 12:00 a.m. on the 13th) and there are some great pieces for this anniversary so stay up late on the 12th to see all of the sweet and spooky goodness!!

Have a great day!
Laurie

Something new....

Sorry for being absent this past week. I was trying to sculpt and finish up some details on a few pieces and ran into a snag. I opened a new bag of paper mache mix and evidently there was more powder binder in this bag than normal because my hands started cracking and the clay was setting up within a 10 to 15 minute period of being mixed...which isn't normal!! When my hands started having a burning tingle as I put them in water I knew it was time to stop and rethink what I was doing. Because my hands needed a day out of the clay I painted yesterday and have the initial coats on two of the Haunted Harvest figures' heads....now, they aren't done, but I have a start on them and thought I would show you what I have been up to.


Lillian Lumina and Squish Squash....they are distant cousins.

Lillian has a bit more work to be done on her lips as I got carried away with her lip gloss....

and I have more layers of glazing to do on the surface of Squish Squash's head. You'll learn more about his name as the figure is completed.

Today is laundry and more painting...I told my husband we need a wife to cook and clean for us and he just smiled at me. I'm not sure what he meant with that smile and decided it was best not to ask.

Have a great weekend and enjoy the Mad Tea Party today!! (I wanted to play but other obligations got in my way!! )

Laurie

Little Penrod Lumina Pumpkin

I really need to get to the studio so this will be short and .....sweet?!! Below is Little Penrod Lumina Pumpkin with his Boo Bucket, Willard. Little Penrod is related to the Lumina Brothers of the past postings, but he has a little more "refinement" due to his upbringing and education. I think you can see it in his appearance.

Little Penrod wears a celestial star hat with copper glitter trim, a Halloween orange jacket with white piping and a black scalloped-edge cape with a star motif to match his hat and star button on his jacket. You can tell this little pumpkin attended Halloween prep school.

Below is a close-up of Willard on the Boo Bucket. Even Willard wears a bow tie to go out trick or treating!!

That's it for today. Little Penrod bids you a good day and wishes you spider hugs and kisses until tomorrow!

Have a great day everyone!!

Laurie

May Halloween WIPs

I'm still working in clay all of this week, but here are some of the works in progress I have going for next month's STJ update and for creating some type of inventory for three fall shows I am participating in (I need my head examined). The heads of the figures are pretty well completed with their little smiles or grins, they have their bow ties and hats, and one figure has her arms and hands (the rest are to be completed this week in between head construction on other figures).


The 2 cat heads are some of my first smaller versions of my Monkey-Cats and of course the boys were too busy to be bothered with modeling for me over the weekend. Fortunately, they both come to me when I call them by name so I would get an occasional glimpse as they arrived for their head rub and drink of studio water when they weren't napping. Silly little creatures and the clay head with the broader grin is Elwood...such a comic and I swear he smiles!!! He brings me his chenille worm (chenille pipe cleaner he took from my supplies) and if I ignore him he sticks it in my paint water---yuck!!! We have decided he likes the way it feels in his mouth because he takes them to his water dish downstairs, his water dish in the kitchen and my paint water. He gets very excited when I rinse them and pull them through a towel to get part of the water out of them (yes, he has used up my entire package of chenille pipe cleaners, but I don't care because they bring him such pleasure).

There is also a moon figure with her scepter and Halloween bucket, two other celestial figures and a pumpkin head. I had a blast making collars and bow ties this past week so most of the figures have one or the other or in most cases they have both.

Well, I had better get my fanny in gear and get today's clay mixed up!

Have a great day and happy creating!
Laurie