Tag Archives: zebra

More to Adorn the Tree

Just in case I haven’t shared enough new one-of-a-kind ornaments to adorn your tree, here are a few more.

anthropomorphic needle felted mouse ballerina ornament to adorn the tree
Sugarplum Mouse

Last year, I created a sugarplum bunny, this year my primary fairy dancer role goes to a mouse. She has a magenta tutu and matching slippers. The skirt of her dance dress has some sparkly spangles, and her neckline and tiara feature cut cystal beads. She is ready to entertain and delight.

needle felted ornament with pair of polar bears teaming up to adorn tree with star
Star Placement

In past years I created batches of polar bears and puffins. They were the first needle felted ornaments I designed. This year I’ve decided to do only one-of-a-kind ornaments, but I had two little polar bear cubs left from last year. So, I decided to team them up into a Star Placement team. I changed them a bit, sewed new eyes, and added toe and foot pads. They have their first star and are ready to go to work. Maybe they can help with your tree.

Perhaps something a bit more exotic?

Anthropomorphic needle felted zebra ornament adorned with a festive polka dot scarf
Festive Print Mixing

Continuing my exploration of animal prints from my feature artist show this year. Festive Print Mixing is a zebra with a colorful contrasting polka dot scarf. She is ready to make a bold impact on any tree.

Anthropomorphic needle felted camel ornament with tree
Overland Tree Delivery

Overland Tree Delivery is a camel on a treck to delliver a tree ready to adorn with all types of its own ornaments. This dromedary requires no GPS, and can deliver enchantment for no extra fee.

Many of these holiday ornaments, and the others I have previously shared will be arriving at the Hillsborough Gallery of Arts in a couple weeks. I am also planning on doing a one evening holiday market just prior to the installation of our gallery’s holiday show. I am waiting on the information and promotional materials for that event, and I will pass them along as soon as I get them.

Zentangle Zebra, Zen-bra? Zeb-tangle?

Either way, it’s a horse of a different stripe.

Continuing my sketchbook exploration into animal patterns, I came up with the idea of a zentangled zebra. Zebra stripes provide a great graphical element, and I have played with zebras and their stripes before. My first was titled Morph. Morph’s black stripes merged into the black lines of a butterfly’s wings, as those wings then diverged from black and white into a rainbow. A second zebra, titled Everything has a Price, has stripes on of one of its side flanks that transform into a barcode label.

I think that I have finally settled on the title Zen-bra for this latest striped figure. This dimunitive equine stands about 9″ tall. She is needle felted wool over an armature of wire and quilt batting. Her eyes are hand sewn glass beads, and I sewed her hooves from faux leather. I played with stylized zentangle patterns within the confines of many of her black stripes and a few of the white spaces. The result is a trubute to the art of the mindful doodle.

zentangle zebra "Zen-bra" needle felted sculpture
zentangle zebra "Zen-bra" needle felted sculpture

Zen-bra will not appear in the gallery until this summer as she is part of the show Natural Patterns.

Something for May

I also completed a couple of small functional pieces this week, They are in preparation of an event this May at the Hillsborough Gallery of Arts. On Saturday, May 11th the gallery is planning a Mother’s Day Pop-Up. This event will be similar to the Holiday Pop-Up this past December, and will feature items perfect for Mom. I will update you on addtional items from myself, and other HGA artists that will be available that day. In the mean time, a little teaser… Two “Tokyo tie” hand bags with needle felted embellishments. I constructed the bags from commercial felt and a contrasting fabric liner. They each feature original embellishment, and a snap closure.

handmade "Tokyo Tie" bag with needle felted embellishments
handmade "Tokyo Tie" bag with needle felted embellishments

The Price of Elephant Dance

The title is me playing around with things that help a piece of digital content be found by search engines. I do not think my tinkering in this post will really bring any more traffic to my little art blog. It is a price I’m paying for my own education and entertainment.

Annual Feature Show

Right now, I am beginning to decide what sculptures to hold for my feature show, or make available immediately. I also need to decide which images to use to highlight that show. I reassess these decisions as work sells, and my gallery inventory dwindles. This year my feature show is in September, so I will hopefully be making many such decisions between now and then. Perhaps you all can help me decide with the sculptures below? I will update you if the availability status any work changes for any reason.

The title of the feature show I am in is RECIPROCUS. As you might guess, that is the latin root for the word reciprocal. We artists in a show come up with our titles together. I suggested “Interactions”, as several pieces I had been working on recently had two or more figures in them. A previous FA show already used that title, so Reciprocus was suggested as an alternative.

Elephant Elevation

Anthropomorphic elephant pair helping each other climb. needle felted wool art doll figure sculpture
Ele-vate

Ele-vate is a pair of elephant babies helping each other climb. They are needle felted wool over wire and batting, and are integrated with the wooden blocks they are climbing. Yes, the title is a terrible bit of punning, but you just have to go with it sometimes.

Everything has a Price

Anthropomorphic zebra with stripes that run into a barcode. needle felted wool art doll figure sculpture
Everything Has a Price

This sculpture features a lone zebra who’s stripes become a barcode. This piece is sort of a nod to the other big project I worked on for the past year or so, leading a team to set up HGA’s point of sale system. At times it felt like that was my job. This sculpture captures that. He is needle felted wool over wire and batting. Though this scupture is a lone figure, I created him with the intention that he is looking directly at the viewer and interacting with them.

Crane Dance

Anthropomorphic pair of dancing Japanese cranes. needle felted wool art doll figure sculpture
Dance

My cranes are captured in a moment within their courtship dance. They evoke human behavior with out the need to be contrived. The cranes are a combination of needle felting and nano felting (wings) over wire and batting. Their legs combine black yarn and needle felted wool roving. The delicate pair is joined together, and they support and balance each other to stand on ther own.

Reminder:

The new show, It’s All About The Story, Volume IX – Jaki Shelton Green, opens at HGA next week. The opening reception will be during the Last Friday Art Walk on the 24th. The piece I shared last week, Rabbit Games and Midnight Rainbows will be part of that show.

Pond-er, anthropomorphic frog needle felted art doll figure sculpture seated in 'Thinker"pose

Three for May

Three to share today

It has been much too long since I’ve shared some new work from my studio work table. I have been busy creating new sculptures, but other computer work priorities have kept me from telling you about them here. As a result they have actually backed up a bit, so I have three new pieces to share today. They are all being saved for my featured artist show at the Hillsborough Gallery of Arts in May.

A Frog to Start the Trio

Pond-er, anthropomorphic frog needle felted art doll figure sculpture seated in 'Thinker"pose
Pond-er

Pond-er is the first of these three new art doll sculptures. Yes, he is reminiscent of Rodin’s “Thinker”, in a lighthearted amphibious way. He is an ultimate example of my frequent aim of minimal anthropomorphism. Trying to create figures that express human characteristic as minimally as possibly, and not by simply dressing them up in clothes. Pond-er is a natural for this approach, as the famous sculpture he is based on is also a nude figure.

Pond-er is needle felted wool over a wire and quilt batting armature frame. His eyes are glass beads that are sewn in place. Admittedly, he does just make me smile, and that is why I created him.

Two of Three

Morph, anthropomorphic zebra needle felted art doll figure sculpture with rainbow butterfly wings
Morph

Secondly, I’d like to introduce you to Morph. Morph is a rainbow zebra pega-fly? Tricky nomenclature aside, Morph is just a flight of fancy on my part. In my head I saw a zebra with butterfly wings where the black stripes became the borderlines of the wings, and the white gradates into the colors of the rainbow. I think that my expression of these ideas in Morph is pretty spot on. I will admit that Morph isn’t necessarily imbued with any particular human characteristics, she’s just a feast for the eyes. Though, she may express some thoughts of change and inclusion through her coloring and metamorphic nature. Morph’s construction is similar Pond-er.

A Bear in Solitude

Considered Solitude anthropomorphic needle felted bear art doll figure sculpture
Considered Solitude

The last of these three new pieces is Considered Solitude. It started by looking at the word solitude, and finding that a bear is an animal that is supposed to be representative of that concept. From there, I thought what might a bear do in its moments of solitude? Mine is carefully considering a daisy. This seated figure does have a simple scarf wrapped around his neck (perhaps it’s an ascot?) He just seemed to need something extra. Considered Solitude has the same felted wool over wire and quilt batting construction.

All three of these new works will be available at the end of May at the Hillsborough Gallery of Arts. I will share more details as the date approaches.