BWBA Group- 1st Year Anniversary Blog Giveaway!

WOOHOO! It's BWBA's 1st year anniversary and we're celebrating by having a blog giveaway!

One year ago marks the birth of the Ebay Artists Group - "Because We Believe- Art" that I started with my good friends Tammy, of Light and Shadow Studio and Karen, of I Draw Pix and now to celebrate we are having a blog giveaway!

As you know, as a group, We Believe in the Magic of the Holidays, the Tooth Fairy, Monsters under the Bed and all other sorts of magical and mythical flights of fancy and have decided to share that with you, our Followers.

So tonight begins the signup that will last for 2 weeks for 12-14 different handmade ooak ornies created by the generous and talented members of our group. There will be 3 ways to get your name in the hat & rules are simple:

#1. Be or become a follower of BWBA

#2. After taking care of rule # 1 - Leave a comment on the Give-away Thread (simply say, "I Believe" will do if you've nothing else to say)

#3. Post to your own blog an announcement about our give-away or better yet provide a link-back to our blog (but please let us know you've done so by posting in your comment-see rule #2)!

The drawing for winners will be on December 5th and hopefully we'll be ready to announce the winners on the 6th.

Click the Blog button to the right to get there! Hope you'll join the fun, see you there!

Josie

STJ Sneaky Peeky & BWBA Blog News

Sheeez, poor neglected bloggie.



And I only have time to post a sneak peek at this months SpookytimeJingles offering set to pop at midnight tonight. I have these great little penguin gourds that lend themselves to many great body shapes. For my Halloween page entry, I've cut up a bigger bottle gourd to attach to a small penguin gourd for the wings and a tail of an owl. Then I pretty much amazed myself when I googled images of flying barn owls for coloration I found a profile image of an owl in flight that my concoction replicates to a "T" proportion-wise. Sometimes, try as I might to distort proportion to add whimsy, I've found that realism has crept on in or I've gotten too detailed. Many projects stop dead in their tracks because I've added too much detail. Anyway, here's a look at my "Gliding Barn Owl"

For my Christmas page I again took a very strong cue from the penguin gourds and made two darling li'l penguin chicks. It helped that I had just recently watch "March of the Penguins" on The Weather Channel. For these two I did manage to capture the fun & whimsy. This is Chilly and Willy and they've been glitterized. Hard to see in the pics. They are 8-9" tall.

And WOOHOO...We're planning a blog giveaway over at BWBA! There are 7 members commited to donating a handmade ornie so far and I just put out a last call to the rest to see if any more want to jump on board. And all ya have to do is be (or become) a follower and post a comment saying "I Believe!" in the giveaway thread. We're going to start this the weekend before Thanksgiving and run it for about two weeks to give folks plenty of time to spread the word.

WooHoo...

Hubby is taking me and our 4 year-old granddaughter to see Cirque du Soleil tonight! I'm excited because their sets, themes and characters always spark my creativity and I am constantly on the prowl for new ideas. Of course, they forbid pictures so I'll have to make sure the cell phone is charged. Can't wait to see Dink's reaction.

Zoie is ...One Twisted Kitteh

Ahhhh...the flexibility of youth!

I'm late, I'm late...

Alf was done in plenty of time as my Christmas offering on Spookytime Jingles so I was working on Matilda for my Halloween page STJ when a personal mini-crisis erupted involving some family members and blew my time-table right out of the water so I was late, late, late in getting my stuff submitted. If Alf is not yet offered on my Christmas page please check back shortly.

Dani has been keeping a tight lid on who this months Guest Artist is so I 'bout blew a gasket from the excitement of seeing that it's SCOTT SMITH of Rucus Studio!! How cool is that! I don't know how she was able to keep such an exciting secret!

I have always admired Scott's talent and imagination - check out his STJ offerings then stay to view the rest of the talented artists offerings. Complete the circuit by clicking the next buttons at the bottom of each page. LOTS of GREAT stuff for sale! And don't forget to sign up for the fabulous door prizes offered!

Alfie the Elfie

Just a quickie post...

Yay! He's done. Now with his wool hat he stands over 13" high. Now on to the next project!

Making Progress

Here's a progress pic on ol' Alfie the Elfie. He's about 80% done. He'll be holding a toy to be painted in this hand and in the other he holds a paintbrush. He's about 12". I'm debating whether to fashion him a wool hat or sculpt him one. My original intent was the wool but I'll scrap it & sculpt one if it doesn't look right.



And here's a picture of Zoie at 6 months. Hubby's agreed to let me keep her and she's settling in nicely. I love taking these types of pics where the sun lights up the ends of their fur and throws the rest into shadow.

Latest WIP

I think will be my Spookytime Jingles Christmas entry for October. I'm really excited about this guy. I knew the basic shape of the character I was going for but not what his face would look like. I'm not one to do a conception drawing beforehand so he is evolving around this basic body shape. I sculpted his face last night and at one point he looked a bit like Alfred Hitchcock.



So I was wavering back & forth on whether he would be an old creepy guy maybe carrying a cat for a Halloween theme but after studying his legs I thought wow, they would look really great & goofy painted in red & white stripes, then I pictured the really high old man waistband (think Urkle) with suspenders so I just had to add pointy ears and Voila! An old Elf was born. An elf getting ready for retirement.

Of course, this could change but that's the direction I'm going in for now : - )

Josie

AHQU

Click on the link below to sign up for Artistic Halloween Queens Blog Giveaway! There are 3 opportunities to get your name thrown in the witches hat for some great prizes!



Josie

Latest for Spookytime Jingles

Here's my latest for STJ;

This bust is about 14" high and the base is about 7¼" in diameter so it's a good size. I've combined two different types of dried gourds together; a cannonball for the head and a gooseneck gourd with both the top and bottom cut off for the upper body. I've given the base a bottom so it is stronger and not just a shell. The held leg of the frog is Apoxie Sculpt for extra strength. The candy cup and his hat are made from a heavy-duty cardboard thread cone.


I've also pulled the Cheshire Cat from Ebay and will offer him on STJ as well. I currently have the Mad Hatter up for auction on Ebay and page views/watchers are waaaaay down from this same time last year. I haven't offered anything on ebay in a while so perhaps I'm suffering from that or the bidders just are not shopping. I know money is tight but I feel sorry for those who depend solely on the sale of their art to make a living. But for those with some extra cash it's a great time to grab some fabulous art at bargain prices!