Chester Chimp Work in Progress

As mentioned in my last post I started working in Halloween colors again and have a figure in the works that I thought you might enjoy.  Below is a picture of Chester Chimp, standing by his pumpkin friend, Percy.  (I'll show you more of Percy later.)    Chester isn't finished yet as he has many details that need to be finished on his garment, hat and extra additions to be placed in his hands.  I have found it is those additions and details that take the most time to complete, but I also think they make the pieces have more character and interest.

Chester is only the second monkey to be created in the studio, and I'm sort of liking how the little fellows are beginning to develop.  I currently do not have plans for another monkey this year, but I might have to add one to the list as this fellow gave me a great idea for another one.  Decisions, decisions. 

Hope you like the peek and I will keep you updated with his changes.

Have a great President's Day!  My boss is making me work!

Laurie

Jack-o'-Bunny and the Easter Crow WIPs

No rabbits this spring for Monkey-Cats Studio, but I did manage to get the bunny ears on a pumpkin boy, plus I finished the sculpting on an egg carrying crow.  Below is the photograph of Jack-o'-Bunny and the Easter Crow as works in progress (WIPs).

I hadn't done one of my pumpkin boys dressed to help the Easter rabbit in several years and this little character seemed to demand a pair of rabbit ears so I felt obliged to fulfill his request.  Along with the pumpkin boy I finished a crow carrying an Easter egg with his right wing.  The sculpt on this one was a bit of a challenge, but I think his little curved wing worked fine to hold the tiny egg.

Off to go do some sanding to get them ready for some paint.  I'll keep you posted!

Have a great day!!

Laurie

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

Ghoultide Gathering 2011

September is passing so quickly and it is almost time for the Ghoutide Gathering weekend. I am getting very excited and so is Mr. Boots Purrington and Professor Purrington.  Boots, and his cousin, the Professor, will both be available in Northville, Michigan this weekend.

Boots is a shoe cobbler by trade, hence his name, and.....

the Professor has the brains in the family with multiple discoveries in the culturing of milk. (notice the white tux)

I do hope you are able to come see these two little Halloween creations at Ghoultide, and if so, please grab me by the elbow and introduce yourself.  It is a magical weekend filled with fun and frivolity and I would love to meet you!!

Have a great week and weekend!
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 

Gandolph Gourd

Work continues on building an inventory for Ghoutide Gathering.  I just finished Gandolph Gourd with his super sour Halloween sucker and mini-gourd friend.  If you take a look at Gandolph's teeth you will notice a few are missing.  Poor Gandolph has a terrible sweet tooth and unfortunately was never taught to brush or floss after eating.  (Some have even speculate that one of his missing teeth is actually his original sweet tooth! )

Gandolph got very excited when he was given this Halloween sucker and instantly took a big bite. Much to Gandolph's surprise the sucker wasn't sweet, but was a special super sour version of the familiar confection created by one of his witchy friends. 

I think there is a lesson to be learned by Gandolph...if the sucker has a slightly "sour" face, perhaps it isn't as sweet as you would hope. 

It was fun playing with this character.  Hope you like him!

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

The Orb Figures are Completed

The orb is done and I'm now painting on a few sculpted figures before mixing some more paper mache clay to sculpt with this week.  I looked at the calendar over the weekend and counted the days left before Ghoultide Gathering, and then counted the number of pieces I have done, and I sort of felt my heart skip a beat....yikes, time to kick it in high gear!  Since it is an evening and day event this year, instead of just a day event, I would like to have a few more pieces done. 

I mentioned in the prior post that I would show the figures on the newest orb so here they are....

  "Spidey Wicked".....

"Monte Moon".....

"Over Bite"....

 "Lenny Lumina"....

and "Skelly Bones" on the bottom.

Hope you like how the orb figures turned out!

Have a great week!

Laurie



New Skelly figure and Mortimer

I have been busy painting on the sculpted works in the studio and realized I have been neglecting to post. Time is passing quickly for me so I thought I would share with you what I have been up to before another week passes.  Below is "Dr. Dem' Bones", who is actually related to "Baron von Spidey Bones" (previous post), and hence has a bit of a family resemblance....well, as far as skelly figures can resemble each other that is.

"Dr. Dem' Bones" is shown getting ready to attend the Ghoulie Gras, hence his formal top hat and white "bone-tie".  He didn't want to show up for the party without a gift for the hostess so he is carrying Larry Lumina, a little jack-o'-lantern, to present upon his arrival.  Also, the hostess has a hairy creature very fond of bones so he has brought along several bones on twine to make sure the little fellow doesn't try to grab one of the Doctor's skeletal bones again this year.  (He never did get that one rib bone back last year!)

There is going to be one more skeleton based skelly figure coming up so if you happen to be coming to Ghoultide Gathering you will find them there.

I also recently had a reminder that I had not posted the finished "Mortimer on the Pumpkin", so here he is!

Hope you like them and have a great week!!

Laurie

New WIPs for Halloween!

Now that some of the other business things are taken care of I am back in the studio playing in paper mache clay.  I have a few skelly boys started (armless and naked at this point), an owl candy container, owl figure, and owl-head handle, plus Jakey Boo (cat) in a jack-o'-lantern and a crow head.  They really don't look like much at this stage, but I'm just thrilled to be in the clay again.

Ah, Halloween, it fills my heart with joy to play in the imagery of the season!  I will show updates as the little fellows develop accoutrements and accessories.

Have a great week.

Laurie

Deadlines....Yikes!!!

Have you ever experienced the feeling that time is on your side and everything is flowing well, and you are getting a lot of things done, and then realize that there was something you forgot about?!!  I almost forgot about the PFATT Marketplace update this month.  I flipped the April calendar open and had an OMG moment.   Where is my brain?

Fortunately, I already had some candy containers made and primed, and was then able to turn to one of my trusty-rusty sketchbooks for quick ideas for figures.

The little witch is done, the vampire is blocked in and will get finished today, photographs and edits tomorrow, and then back to the computer to complete the listing for the unveiling on the 10th.  Gosh, and everything was going so swimmingly!!

Have a great week and happy creating.  Off to go paint!
Laurie

Little Parker Pumpkin with Bailey Bat

I have finally finished the painting on two new sculptures, and this is one of them, "Parker Pumpkin."  As is normal with many of my figures, Parker has a story.  It seems as though Parker comes with a well-vined pedigree, with his family's seedstock traced back to at least the 1620s, when his ancestors were shared with the settlers of the Plymouth Colony.  Being native to North America, this little fellow's family roots run deep and proud.

Parker learned at an early age the impact his family had on the history of America, and he was raised to uphold the standards of his family tree, uh, I mean vine.  Parker had other ideas, however, after he overheard a group of young pumpkin boys discussing Halloween and all of the mischief and fun of the night.  The other little pumpkin boys shared their love of bats, spiders and bugs, and told him stories of spooky ghosts, witches and ghouls.  Parker decided he wasn't going to become food for the humans; he was going to become a jack-o'-lantern!



After Parker learned that most jack-o'-lanterns were carved and not painted, Parker carefully rethought the idea and decided instead to train Halloween bats.  Over time, what Cesar Millan is to dogs, Parker became to bats... he became known as the "bat whisperer!"

Parker is shown in this sculpture with a bat named Bailey, in his right hand, and uses this well balanced bat to teach other little nocturnal fellows how to get over their fear of jack-o'-lanterns.   After all, you can't have a bat afraid of common everyday Halloween folk. Not to worry, Parker hasn't failed yet with any of his bats, and it is partially due to the talents of Bailey!

Hope you like this silly pumpkin and understand his batty dreams.

Have a creative week!

Laurie

Painted Halloween Portraits

We have been having some Internet problems and I'm afraid my cute little neighborhood squirrels might be the cause...seems as though they like to chew on wiring that is placed above ground.  No wonder the cable company has buried as much of the cable as they can.  Anyway, sorry for the late post, but I didn't have Internet access.

One of the good things I discovered about not having Internet access was how productive I was without the distraction of running over to the computer to check email or Facebook.  (Maybe those squirrels are a good thing!)   I was able to put the finishing touches on this tiny little pumpkin boy portrait yesterday, which is on a 4" wrap around canvas.  I hope to get a few more done in the upcoming weeks to place on these small black wooden easels I found.  I think they will work nicely with other Halloween collectibles to enhance your arrangements of holiday objects.  Yes, I'm all Halloween already, and happy to be so!

Have a great week and St. Patrick's Day!
Laurie

Corvus Crow

Thought I would share with you the first crow I have ever created, little "Corvus Crow". He is going to Ghoultide Gathering the end of September, so he will not be available online. 

Corvus has a thing for jack-o'-lanterns so if you see a crow flying around with one hanging from his beak, chances are it is Corvus.  He has brothers that are equally fond of Halloween so look for peeks of them in the upcoming months!

Have a great week!
Laurie

Peek-a-Boo Pumpty

Halloween is now in full swing in the studio and I'm excited to return to the colors of orange and black...they are sort of like old friends to me.  Below is the first completed Halloween character for 2011, "Peek-a-Boo Pumpty", a funny little pumpkin boy wearing devil horns and holding a bird mask, playing peek-a-boo with us.  He has just thrown up his hands and uncovered his face to expose a suspiciously sweet little smile.   (I never completely trust these little guys as I blame them for the dust bunnies and cobwebs in my home...okay, maybe they aren't really responsible, but it makes me feel better to think so.)

Pumpty wasn't happy about his black and white striped unitard, but I explained to him that only real pumpkin "men" could carry it off so the muttering has subsided. 

This little fellow will be going to Ghoultide Gathering, September 30 and October 1, 2011, at Mill Race Village in Northville Michigan.  Check the link and look at the list of wonderful artists I have the great fortune of participating with at this wonderful Halloween festival of arts.  I feel so lucky to be included and know this will be another wonderful year at Ghoultide Gathering!  Don't miss it!

Have a great week!
Laurie

Something New to Announce!

Something new to announce at Monkey-Cats Studio.  Starting tonight, I will now have my work available not only on the EHAG Emporium, but I am very happy to announce I have joined PFATT Marketplace.  

UPDATE: All gone, thank you!! 

For my debut tonight, 9 p.m. Pacific, I will have three spring works available, all one-of-a-kind originals, created without the use of molds and made of paper mache.

 

"Eggster Rabbitty"  (**SOLD**, Thank you!)

"Pinky Candy Container" (**SOLD** Thank you!)

and "Ralphie Rabbitty"  (**SOLD**, Thank you!)

All three works will come signed, numbered and dated.

I hope you like the little hoppers

and as always, I thank you for your consideration.

Laurie

Smiling Santa!!

This smiling little fellow that I finally finished is going on eBay tonight.  He is a unique character with lots of details that measures 8" x 5.25" x 5.5", and is made of paper mache, wire, bottle brush and gold thread.

He has blue eyes, a rosy nose and cheeks and a toothy grin under his textured moustache.  All of his hair, beard, eyebrows and moustache are textured in a similar way, are painted in cream and then touched with a brown wash to accentuate the surface quality.  The brown wash is used throughout the figure to emphasize the folds in his hat, sleeves, tassel and mittens, as well as to give the character a more vintage feel.

I hope you like him in his finished state!!

Here is the auction link!!!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=180594378233

Happy Holidays!

Laurie

Here Comes Santa Claus

I started painting on the short Santa yesterday and was able to block in his body color and paint on some of the smaller pieces he will be holding, but I forgot to put the candy canes in his hands before I took the photograph...oops!  I'm hoping for an afternoon of painting to get him closer to his finished state.



We are having family on Thanksgiving so tomorrow will be cleaning at home, time at the tree farm and food prep on those things I can do ahead of time.  I really do enjoy the holidays and find them less stressful when I do a little preparation the day before.

I wish you all a very happy Thanksgiving filled full of family, food and memories in the making.

Laurie

Working on Christmas Elves

I'm in the studio working on a couple of elves this week and thought I'd show you what I have done so far.  This is the second elf I have ever sculpted that is popping out of a large Christmas ornament.  Like the Santa figure, the paper mache he is created from is pretty wet so it will be a few days before I can put paint on him, but I'm excited to see how he will look in full color.

He currently is sitting atop a tripod base and I'll see if I still like that when the figure and ornament are painted.

Hope you like the peek!
Laurie