My Little Pony

I had to admit I lost a few nights’ sleep thinking about this challenge presented to me: A My Little Pony set for a birthday girl. But as always, when you leave something alone, a solution will nearly always present itself.

After this was painted, I was all smug and got ready to work on the next item on the list when I happened to look at the notes about this set and realized I got the line up of the ponies completely wrong. The buyer was beyond understanding and was even willing to take this set as is except that’s not how I roll. Luckily she made a suggestion that got me to stop tearing my hair out and I made some minor adjustments:

Of course, there was another complication that came up when I thought this set was done and dusted and that had been yet another oversight on my part…what on earth was going on in the ol’ sweatshop?! In the end everything worked out and my takeaway from the many trials and tribulations is to ALWAYS CHECK EVERYTHING OVER TWICE. Or thrice.

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Bo

Even though he lived with parents and I only got to see him once a year, Bo and I were the best of friends and his awesomeness was unparallelled. Be a good boy in doggie heaven, my Bo.

The Wilfred Expansion

Last year I got to paint 8 sets of the Wilfred dolls which includes Wilfred, Ryan, and Bear. I toyed with the idea with resurrecting this set again with an addition of more characters but didn’t get a chance to do it until now. Not only did I get to paint one of my favorite sets again, but I got to supersize it AND include Jenna and Drew. Life is good.

A New Mr. Fox Set

I think I’ve painted about 20 Mr. Fox sets in the past 4 months. It’s gotten to a point that I had to stifle a scream whenever I get a request to paint one, albeit never successfully. To stave off the ennui, I’ve tried out an alternative version to see if that one will be as popular as the original set.

It’s a bit more low key, and the gang’s wearing their nightclothes. The screaming in my head died down a little while painting this set.

Ash in his briefs. Awww…cute!

The Story of a Dog and His Man

When asked if I would be interested in painting multiple sets of dolls for the cast of surreal comedy Wilfred, I said, “Put the coffee on and keep those cheese logs coming.” The steam whistle was pulled and I entered my sweatshop and didn’t emerge until a week later.

There are nine sets in all, each featuring Wilfred, a manipulative dog; Ryan, his next door neighbor and dog-sitter; and Bear, Wilfred’s favorite toy. We decided that the Ryan dolls should all be wearing different shirts, just to break things up a little and make each set truly one-of-a-kind.

Haven’t seen this show yet? You should! Season 3 is premiering soon and season 1 can be streamed off Netflix!

Jett and Her Friends

It seems like I’ve been in a full-on assembly line style painting these days! It’s sort of a Zen thing, which is just as good as meditation if you ask me!

These are favors for Jett the Pug’s birthday party. Aww! If these are meant to be stand-alone dolls, I’d have made little party hats for them!

Jett’s little friends also get key chains painted in their own likenesses as well! Not that I’m biased or anything, but I LOVED Harold the Bulldog.

Introducing Trixie

Trixie came about after I read The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey. The story took place in Alaska, a perfect read during the sultry Australian summer months. It’s a fairy tale written for adults about a childless couple thriving in the Alaskan wilderness, a mysterious girl who may or may not have been made out of snow accompanied by a red fox, and unexpectedly, sewing.

I miss my dirndls. That’s right, I owned not one but two dirndls and I used to wear it un-ironically (it also doubled as a Halloween costume—wherein during the day, with a red cape, I was the Little Red Riding Hood as not to offend my students and colleagues. At night, however, I became an Oktoberfest beer wench. Dirndls are marvelous things).

When it’s time to choose an outfit to make for Trixie, I went straight for the Little Red Riding Hood ensemble since it’s a great excuse to make a mini dirndl.

I also made a little button clasp shaped like a pretzel. Perhaps there’s a larger one in the works for myself to wear?

A Real Faux Fox Stole

I am very jealous of my friends in the States. Their Facebook stats are all Snow This, Ski That. In the meanwhile, I’m sweating up a storm here in Oz, thinking longingly of flannel PJs and hot cocoa and mittens on kittens and wooly scarves. Heat’ll do that to you—make you unreasonably delirious.

I can risk a heatstroke by putting on my woolen goods, but that’s just not a smart move, especially when your partner is of the sarcastic and unsympathetic variety. So I made a hot weather wintertime accessory.

It’s a needle-felted fox stole necklace! And one that won’t get me in trouble with the anti-fur people!

The best thing about this is I can wear it both during a heat wave AND a cold spell!

Where the Wild Things Are

This set is going to be in a Where the Wild Things Are themed nursery. I’d love to grow up in a jungle-themed room. Actually, I wouldn’t mind living in one now!

Once again, I had a choice between painting these guys in the likeness of the movie monsters or from the book…the decision was easy!

One of the minor changes I made was to make Max’s crown out of vellum and gold leaf. I still haven’t decided whether or not it should be removable.

This was a great set to revisit. If I didn’t have such a hard time working with faux fur (remember the Muppets debacle?), I’d cheerfully fuzz up these guys!

The Fantastic Mr. Fox Rides Again!

I had to paint two Mr. Fantastic Fox sets all in a space of one week. This gave me a great excuse to watch the movie again and I was able to add a few more details that I missed last time.

Like…

Mr. Fox’s little radio,

the word “blueberries” written on Kylie’s palm so he wouldn’t forget to bring some to feed the rabid dog (but he did forget),

Kristopherson with an acorn,

and Ash holding a Mrs. Bean’s famous nutmeg ginger apple snaps. Oooh, yum! There are recipes out there for this fictional dessert…an absolute perfect treat for those of you in the Northern Hemisphere awaiting the impending autumn!

Mrs. Bean’s Famous Nutmeg Ginger Apple Snaps recipe.

I couldn’t quite make up my mind about which Kylie to paint, so I did both, a different one for each set.

I know, I know, I’ve been hitting you with way too much Wes Anderson-based projects. Rest assured, there’ll be some non-Wes Anderson related sets a-comin’!