Thursday 8th April, 2010

 I've been 'fiddling' again.....

I'm one of those people who can make great strides when things are straight forward.  But when it's something I'm not sure of, because it's new or whatever, I procrastinate.  And that's what I've been doing with my little white metal 'feathered friends'.  I wasn't sure how they would come out, and it was a bit of a fiddle getting the white metal prepared, and I couldn't be bothered getting our bird books out to check and make sure I got the colouring right....... But mainly I wasn't sure how well I would be able to paint them and was a bit nervous about them.  Now though things are moving on so well that it was TIME!  Yes siree, it was time to tackle those litttle feathered critters. 

And I was pleasantly surprised at the ease of painting them, after washing them in water with dishwashing detergent ( I read about doing that years ago with kits for fireplaces from Phoenix - don't know if it is relevant for these but it couldn't hurt!).  Then I sprayed them with the metal primer I had bought from the hobby shop a while ago in preparation for the great day.  It's a beautiful day, 24degC (75degF) even now late in the afternoon, so they didn't take long to dry.  Peter got out his bird books and we looked up the seagulls and pelicans that are local to our stretch of the coast here in Australia and off I went.  The results aren't too bad, either.

I had also prepared the white metal photo frames at the same time, so they are painted gold and ready to have wonderful works of art inserted. 

Then I asked Pete to help me do the 'ropes' around the pilings of the wharf.  I had purloined some of his string ages ago for this purpose - it is about the right thickness and is nice and dirty and discoloured so looks suitably 'aged'.  That didn't take long and looks great.

When he collected Nathan from the sheltered workshop he attends they went and bought some material for the base, so I experimented with the water made from foil while they were gone.

I spent ages on the internet saving free printies of famous artwork today for several of my houses as well as for the Sea Shanty.  And I also hunted through my collection of printies for different items to include.  Now all I have to do is make them all up lol!

On a roll then, so I painted two cats.  One is a 'giant' ginger called Thomas (I know,  such  an  imaginative name! Not.)  One is in a smaller scale so it is obviously a kitten, and it is a calico cat and really quite sweet even if she is a bit on the skinny side.

I am not however going to post photos of the animals and birds painted in detail, though here is one of them collectively on the wharf.  .  Mainly because they look fine to the naked eye but look disgusting in photos!  I guess that's because they are about  100 times their actual size in photos vbg.  So you will see them when I post a photo of them in position in the whole scene.  The poor pelicans kept falling over, they just would not stand up.  The seagulls are mainly in flight pose, but one is sitting and one is standing.  The 'flying' ones will be a little tricky to use, but I think I have worked out how to do it.

Not too excited about the 'water' either!  It flattened down rather more than I wanted it too, but considering it is right near the shoreline I suppose I could leave it.  Knowing me I probably won't though!  Here's a photo of it - still wet, so it will need going over in the morning.  And more white added to the tops of the little ripples - you could hardly call them waves.  I have some sand but it's not as fine as I would like, or as pale either.  I will have to put it through some sort of sieve and try to get the finest particles to use.  Or else visit a beach!  Hardly have time to do that though.  We bought this lot from a pet store, it is for use in aquariums.  I'll look around a bit more, maybe.