New Work - May 2nd

Happy May everyone!

I didn't get my usual first of the month new work post up yesterday because it was unbearably hot here. . . low 80's. . . lol. Seriously though, for us, that IS hot! We still had the ocean breeze but when it is no hotter than 70 degrees about 358 days a year,  and often between 50 and 60, well, 84 seems like a heat wave. But back at it today!

So in the last month I got to do a few new and fun projects! This leading into the month of May where I successfully kept my entire custom work schedule blank so I could get back to making more of just what I want and focusing on the writing more ( I completed the 30 day world building exercise but more on that in a few days!)

So here is a little peek at some of hat ket me busy in April! Hope you enjoy!!

 It was a busy month in Shadow of the Sphinx and I got to make a few pieces that were really FUN!

 This is Ammut - commonly known as "the devourer" but who has such complex meaning in the Ancient Egyptian pantheon. Head of a Crocodile, body of a lioness and back end of a Hippo.  . . so that was a challenge! lol I'd never made an Ammut this size or style before but I loved how She turned out!

And a golden Sekhmet with a red marble solar disc. . .

And I just finished this guy, Thoth, or Djehuty if you prefer. . . the Ancient Egyptian Lord of Writing, Creativity and Time. Anthropomorphic pieces have always been such a challenge for me but I think finally, after 6 years, I feel comfortable with the complex and mixed dimensions, the Egyptian style of striding legs, the forms are classic and much harder to reproduce than I ever imagined they would be.

And a few newbies from Bewilder and Pine too. . . a gargoyle sentinel, Tonoran, who sports Mossy Green Swarovski pearl eyes! I am working on an idea for a series of Kegeling gargoyles. The thought of stone sentinels whiling away the "off hours" bowling on building ledges really tickles me! so each gargoyle would come with it's own 20mm kegeling/bowling ball in hand and a set of three "stone" pins (option to buy a full set of nine pins, of course but I'll start with three)  :)

This little guy. . . no name for these Pine fantasy creatures yet. . . but basically they are little "luck spirits" who find lost coins and return them to their owners. . . but who then become attached to the owners for life. So an Elf or Dryad or Hob who is not mindful and loses a lot of coins might suddenly find themselves with an entire brood of these little guys to care for!

And a new fairy House upon a Star as well. . .

And finally, back to Shadow of the Sphinx for a few amulets starting with Hathor, a goddess who personified the principles of joy, love and motherhood.

Tanit, actually one of the first amulets/statues I've made for the shop that comes from outside the Egyptian Pantheon but it was the remarkable resemblance to the Ankh that made me want to make it! Tanit was a Punic/Phoenician deity with lunar aspects.

And last, a small, wearable full-form Bastet. Another challenge for me early on in my sculpting was making small pieces that maintained a good bit of shape and classic form. She is under 2" tall.

Well, I am beyond excited to share more with you this month. New ideas, my writing short story book progress and a bit more about the path that led, and continues to lead me to be a maker-of-things!

Have a lovely start to your May wherever you are and make MAGIK every day!!

xo
nicolas

Kitsurada - Land of Foxgoyles

One of the many new projects I'm determined to set time aside for this year is the developing of a few pieces of the larger fantasy world I have been creating. Fleshing out characters, timelines and histories, locations etc etc so that, in the not-too-distant future, I can create more stories and, hopefully, complete books about them. From children's books to fantasy shorts and perhaps one good full length book/novel or two somewhere down the merry road.

I began diving into this idea at the end of 2015 to allow myself a "running start" at the mountain ahead this year. :)

The first project I chose, though I was already strongly leaning towards it in November an December, was decided by a few lovely reviews and a message I received about my gargoyles in Bewilder and Pine. The review was from a customer who purchased a Fennec Foxgoyle and custom ordered one other Catgoyle to go with it.

The note was actually from a customer who purchased one of my very first Bewilder and Pine Foxgoyles almost a year ago and who kindly wrote to let me know that she not only loved it when it arrived but, that a year on, she still looks at it every day and smiles when ever she sees it in her home.

That note came just as I was beginning the long process of creating the map you see below and, with just a bit of doubt creeping in as it tends to on any new. . . and large. . . project, it was the last little "push" I needed to allow me to dive in fully.

Kitsurada is the mythical home of the Foxgoyles in my fantasy world. I have so much to flesh out so I cannot tell you much more right now but I chose this project to begin with for two reasons. One, I LOVE maps! Old maps especially and most games I played or made up as a child included some sort of treasure map, star map, forgotten world map etc etc.

I've always made them, even in my 20's and 30's I'd doodle them here and there on napkins or scraps of paper. And I cannot fathom a fantasy novel that does not include a good, informative map! And as I may have mentioned before, the series that brought me back to rediscovering my love of comics and really, my desire to delve deeper into the makings of childhood too, "Mouse Guard" by David Peterson, first captured my heart with the lovely map of that small mouse-centered world.

The second reason is my love of the many varieties of Foxes. And the idea of making the mythical creatures of this part of the world something based on "stone magic" appealed to me greatly. 

Of course, the mythical creatures have their very own mythical creature too. . . ahh so much for reality. :) 

But this is Kitsurada. . . still very much in progress itself.

Part 16th Century Map and Part Digital art and a Lot of Imagination

This project began with an old 16th century map. Though I altered the main island, the form of it just seemed perfect and, being in the public domain, I borrowed that main landmass.  wiping it clean of it's interior, I set about adding the forests, the lakes and towns, the ring of volcanic formations, the portolan lines, compass rose and scrolls. . .  and the Japanese inspired wave pattern that runs through the oceans was what really brought it to life for me. The whale and ship are from another 15th century map and I created the Kitsu Isles to the right arranging them in a somewhat fox-like formation. :)

The volcanic spires in the sea that surround the land protect it from raiding parties of ogres and trolls making it an almost insurmountable defense. . . almost.

Each of the seven forests are named for one of the Foxgoyle Breeds that inhabit/protect the populated central part of the island. Fennec, Kit, Swift, Red, Corsac, Azaras and Sechura. There is also the mythic tale of a nine-tailed creature living on the Kitsu Isles. . . very much like the modern Kitsune Foxes.

There is a developing backstory to the foxgoyles origins and their purpose.  But what is most fun for me is that the story grows with each iteration. I just finished the first of the Fennec and Kit foxgoyles for the shop this year (see a few posts ago) and just making those has given me a whole added dimension to the story as I went along working on them.

In the end, later this year, I hope to have the Foxgoyle story as a stand alone mini-book, hand-bound and printed with map included, to offer thru the shop or as a special addition to a Foxgoyle figure.  Perhaps the book will have a mini-mini Foxgoyle to go along with it? Who knows!

Anyway, welcome to another part of my world. . . I hope it inspires and delights!

Thank you for looking!

nicolas

New Work - January 2016

“Then up he got with a light heart, free from all his troubles, and walked on till he reached his mother's house, and told her how very easy the road to good luck was.”  - Jacob Grimm - Grimm Fairy Tales

The road to good luck, in creating, is really about balance. Finding the right mix of what people love with what we, as makers, love to do. It's very good luck indeed, and very easy, to e able to explore new work and new ideas. To me, it's the very epitome of happiness. 

My first-of-the-month blog posts will be a collection of new, unfinished and unreleased work to give you all an idea of what is coming from the shops and to talk a bit about what inspires these creations too!

This New Year post, let's just stay with mostly Bewilder and Pine: The last few weeks I have been creating SO many new items and organizing a year's worth of thoughts on direction and theme. 

So to kick it off, here are the newest and latest creations!

Beginning with. . . GARGOYLES!

A Bewilder and Pine gargoyle "standard" surrounded by new Foxgoyles and a Winged Catgoyle too!

Loving the faceted Swarovski Crystal eyes for the Foxgoyles!

I've been wanting to create an entire world/story/myth around these little ones for a few years now!

Next up. . . Mushroom Houses and Fairy Towers!

These are around 4.5" tall! Another item from my "really want to create" list for a year now.

Bringing back the little potted Fairy houses with some detail additions like textured walls and rooftops!

This is a variation on my original Stargazer House just much bigger & more appropriate to the telescope and moon I think!

And this little cutie with a spin-able winged finial on top!

And. . . the TINY ROBOTS!

Making these little rusty Tiny Robots is just pure bliss!

And finally a few examples from recent work in Shadow of the Sphinx as well:

Djed Pillar - Symbol of Stability and Strength

Two different Sekhmet lioness styles. Working on the "Lady of Light" always seems appropriate for the new year!

So that's a peek at what's going on here this New Years and I look forward to keeping up with the blog and sharing more with you all soon!

Have a very lovely New Year and make it creative and blissful ALL year long!

xo

nicolas