Autumn Asian Dragon

[merimask]

Well, I finished my newest Asian dragon plaque and I'm quite pleased with it.

It's another commission piece, but I was given a lot of leeway by the client (a wonderful person who knows that letting me run with an idea often results in fun stuff).   He wanted an Asian dragon like my Cherry Blossom dragon, but with fall leaves instead.  I went a step further and did the sculpted branches too (which was the only part about the koi plaque that I liked).  I was SO careful sculpting and laying them out...I even did a mock-up before I started glueing, laying everything in its place and photographing it for reference.  All the caution paid off though...I feel like this one's doing what I wanted it to do.

I let myself go a little and added all kinds of fun embellishments to the face and spine.  I even found some lovely dyed golden pearls for the eyes, which I think totally work.

Fun fun!

So, now it's on to  the wave dragon, which has developed into a real challenge.  I'm out of "big" leather...all I had was smaller scraps so my waves have gotten smaller and quadrupled in number.   It's hard to say, but in my head I'm picturing it with color and I think all the frilly whitecaps against the blue/purple/green/aqua waves are going to look really neat.  It's a HUGE project though.  Just gigantic.  I did my cutting and sculpting and mock-up layout tonight.

The dragon is the only piece that's actually finished...except I haven't added the floopy embellishments to the face or spine yet.  I did the eyes though; dyed pearls again except these have a silvery cast to them.  The waves are still all in raw leather...but if you can imagine them with color you'll see where I'm going.  I'm painting the waves now, but it's going to take a long time.  I'll be lucky if I finish this one by Friday.

Not going to do anything else with it tonight though.  I took a sleepy pill because I have a busy day tomorrow.  Guys are coming to remodel the bathroom (yay!) which is sorely in need of a facelift.   I can work on the waves tomorrow while the construction is going on, it'll give me something to do.

In other news:  Steve Irwin's widow was interviewed by Barbara Walters tonight and I shouldn't have watched it  'cause she broke my heart.  :-(

Comments

[lotus-faerie.livejournal.com]

That's GORGEOUS!

[merimask.livejournal.com]

:-) Thank you!

[firegazer.livejournal.com]

Oh wow... that's gorgeous. I've always loved red maples. The water dragon looks like it's going to be pretty as well. I can't wait to see it.

[merimask.livejournal.com]

Thank you. :-) I researched and found that I'd been doing my Japanese maple leaves all wrong; they have seven lobes, not five. At least I got it right this time.

The wave dragon is going to be pretty cool, I think, though the waves are taking FOREVER to paint.

[ramblinsuze.livejournal.com]

GORGEOUS!!!! I'm just constantly amazed by your work.

And I had to turn off the Terri Irwin interview. I saw the first bit and just couldn't take the raw pain and emotion. I feel SO terrible for her. :(

[merimask.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I'm having a lot of fun with this asian dragon theme. :-)

"...I had to turn off the Terri Irwin interview."
Oh I know! I had to shut it off a few times too (though I'm a glutton for punishment and I kept turning it back on...it was weird). I'm a Steve Irwin fan from waaaay back, and though I was saddened and shocked at his passing I didn't cry until I heard poor Terri last night. :-( They had such a cool marriage and an adorable family.

[paynesgrey.livejournal.com]

Those are beautiful. Once again your detail is AMAZING!

Damn, I missed the interview. I wanted to see it too. I might have to look for it on Youtube then. :(

[merimask.livejournal.com]

Thank you. :-) I hope to have that wave dragon done soon. It's monopolizing my time and distracting me from some neccessary commission work, but at least I'm having fun with it.

Waah! The Terri Irwin interview was SO heartbreaking. The saddest thing she said was when Walters (that wrinkled vulture) asked her what she'd miss about Steve the most. Terri said "He was so much fun. I'll miss all the fun we had...he didn't sweat the little stuff," and she was crying while she spoke which just broke my heart into a hundred little pieces. :-( They really had a great marriage.

[rumdiculous.livejournal.com]

I love the little leaves on the background. They're so cute! And the dragon looks so cool, like it's going to jump off of the plaque and pounce on someone. XD

That wave dragon is HUGE. I can't wait to see it in full color and finished. It'll be breathtaking.

[merimask.livejournal.com]

Hee! Thank you, I'm glad you like it. This one's much flashier than the Cherry Blossom Dragon...gold on black y'know. I love the pearl eyes, too. They almost glow.

Oh that wave dragon! More precisely, it's the waves rhat are TOO much work. In comparison the dragon itself took a fifth of the time to make, and I'm not even nearly done with those waves. Still painting, and I have blue paint in various hues splotched all over my hands and my clothes. *sigh* It better be worth it! I'm going to slap a fat outrageous price on the wave dragon, because it's taking me too long to make and I better get compensated well for all my time or I'm just not gonna part with it. *grumpgrump*

[pzb.livejournal.com]

Quite pretty m'dear. :D Glad to see you've gotten back into the swing. And hey, at least the koi wasn't a total waste.... XD You did get the branches out of it. :D

That's really cool to see the raw leather on the wave dragon. :D Can't wait to see it finished.

Hope the remodel has gone well. :D

[merimask.livejournal.com]

Thanks. :-) Yeah I try to learn from every mistake, and I try to always remember the parts that DO work, even in a piece that fails in general. Those branches were fun to make and I'm going to be doing more things with them soon, I think.

"That's really cool to see the raw leather on the wave dragon."

You know...I've often thought it'd be informative and fun if I documented how I build a piece, right from the very beginnng when I get a hide delivered in a box. I could take a picture at every step, from cutting to carving to shaping and painting. Do you think that'd be something interesting?

[pzb.livejournal.com]

*I* would love to see a step by step from you, but then, I'm a total spaz that loves to see work-in-progess shots of people's work... I think it helps me to understand what lengths they go to and the steps they take to get from point A to point B.

Heh....you'd think I'd do more WIP stuff.....but if you saw some of the changes I made......holy crap......

[alm82.livejournal.com]

The fall leaves were an excellent choice. Then again I'm fond of the autumn when the leaves start to change.

I only saw your work once before and that was Kuro's christmas gift. And I told PZB about that and she said I should check out your LJ :D So here I am. My eyes are like "can't look away, unique stuff!"

[merimask.livejournal.com]

Hi! :-) Thank you. I had a lot of fun with that piece; I love autumn colors and even though I do an autumn dragon on my web site it was much more dramatic as an Asian Dragon, I think.

Hee! I love Kuro...she's so neat. I think we have a mutual artistic appreciation society going on in here, because so many of the people on my F-list are artists that I admire immensely.