Sprite

New Humanoid Creature Bust- WIP

2011-12-12T09:02:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone :) Hope you are all enjoying the Holiday Season so far. As promised, here I am with another update :D

I posted a quick pic of her on FB when I first started this piece but since she's different on each side and quite further along, here are some updated, additional pics. My Apologies for the off lighting. Absolutely loved sculpting it.

Thanks so much for visiting!
HUGS
Sprite

I'm back! With lots to share :D

2011-12-06T18:18:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone :)

It's been a while...apparently when you have too many images stored on picasa you can no longer update your blog with photos. I finally moved them and am super excited to be back. I have lots of new work to share!

Here are my newest ornaments and sculptures. They're currently in my Etsy shoppe with Free shipping! There you will also find additional photos and details on each piece and its creation... :)

Seahorse Dragon Sculpture

Here's some additional views:

A Snowy Elf Head Ornament

Other views...

Creepy Christmas Creature!!? :)

What a weird and festive creature huh! :) He's got a little skull tucked under his arm.

Snow and Crackled Ice Dragon
He has a crackled ice heart embedded in his chest and is holding a chunk of ice.

"Frozen water" wings!

I'll be listing some of my other mixed media work and sculptures in my store later this week but I also have some new creature WIP's to share. I will do my best to update more frequently as time permits. I occasionally post quick updates on FB too (Sprite Hansen). A giveaway will be coming soon as a little thank you to my friends and followers so please stay tuned!

I'm just getting back into blogging and would love to hear from you!
Thank you so much for visiting...
Big hugs,
Sprite

Trick r Treat! Halloween Studio Tour has begun!

2011-09-30T20:42:00.000-07:00

Yippeee!! The Halloween Artist Studio Tour has officially begun!
It will run through the month of October. Some amazing artists are participating!
By clicking your way through the map you can visit the artists studios and see what great treats they have to offer. Not only is it fun but it benefits a great cause, Bat conservation!!
Please check it out!

I have three miniature Halloween dragons available for purchase through the tour. :)
This is the first time they are available for purchase online! They are one-of-a-kind.
For each one purchased and additional donation will be made to BCI.
Here is a sneak peak of my offerings:

For additional info and detailed photos of the pieces above, a glimpse of me in my wings and of my studio, come find me on the map! hee hee ;) http://www.halloweenstudiotour.com

Visitors will also have a chance at the "door prize" by collecting clues throughout the tour!!
Please come check it out and tell all your friends too!

Thank you so much for your support and as always, for visiting :)

HUGS!
Sprite

An update! :D

2011-08-13T21:35:00.001-07:00

Well hello there! :)

I can't even believe how much time has passed since my last post, so much has happened! Let's catch up quick but mostly start fresh shall we? :)

After a long wait of knowing it was coming, I was laid off. Hoping it's the universes way of putting me on a more creative, happier path. I'm already amazed at how much more I can accomplish without the almost 4 hour a day commute. Here's a sneak peak at some of the random WIPs started just last week.

Go figure, in the middle of sculpting the weird creature head, out comes this cute little mousey sculpt! What the...hee hee :)

Oh! I have some exciting and fun news to share!! I'll be doing a virtual Halloween studio tour in October, created and coordinated by my new friend Karen who I met at the show, she adopted my creature piece! He now lives in Canada and loves it there :)

The tour begins October first and benefits Bat conservation! How cool is that?!
I will have a few pieces available for purchase :)

For more info please visit: http://www.halloweenstudiotour.com.
If you're an artist interested in participating check out this link

BTW, I(finally) got a new computer, so I'm hoping between that and having more time, I should be able to visit with all of you more often, create more and share pictures more frequently :)

As always, thanks so much for visiting!!
Have a super fantastic and wonderfully creative day :)

Big hugs,
Sprite

WIPS for PA Show :D Earth beings, a giant dragonfly and... a foot. :D

2011-04-11T10:19:00.000-07:00

Making some progress on a few pieces, woo hoo!! Tremendous amount to do yet but fun fun!

I was trying to determine whether or not crappy pics were better than no pics and decided, yes, yes they are :D So here are a few.

A being, either emerging from the earth or dissolving into it.

A giant dragonfly i started a few years ago and then sat on a shelf.
I'm really enjoying working on him again! His body still needs alot of work but I couldnt resist playing with and experimenting with his wings :)

An earth healer..and certainly a piece of me. Its hard to make out the details sculpted on the back but hopefully you can see her partially deformed wings...

And a foot for the dragon creature thing, well the start of one anyway ;)

Have a super day everyone and thanks so much for visiting!

HUGS
Sprite

Hello!! and some news! :D

2011-04-04T08:28:00.001-07:00

Hi Everyone!!

I cannot believe so much time has passed? lapsed? vanished? since my last blog post! Good gawd! My apologies and thanks for sticking with me regardless of my absence :) Over the past few months so much has happened we are just going to start fresh okie dokie?.....

How is everyone!? :) I hope super!

I just got back from Sherry & Jean's RenoIowa retreat, it was my first time in Reno and the retreat was absolutely amazing! I learned a ton, thoroughly enjoyed being with familiar friends, making new ones and I finally got to meet two of my close friends after only knowing them online~for 6 years, AWESOME!

Hopefully I'll get a slide show up soon. Cannot say enough positive things about these teachers or the experience. and guess what? They added another retreat! East Coast -New York in July and I cannot wait - I am in NY! WOO HOO GO ME! If you'd like to check out and/or reserve your spot at one of the retreats here's the link: http://renoiowaretreat.com/ Seriously amazing.

Also I have some news... :) I am doing my very first show in May in PA! I'm very excited and of course a tad nervous, especially since its a month away and guess who doesn't have a thing made/finished yet? HA HA HA Guess who wont be sleeping much until after the show?

If you are attending or are in the area and can stop by please let me know so I know to look for you. I would sooooo love to see some familiar faces and /or meet you!! Here is the link http://www.quinlanmuseum.com/convention/

As for creating, well, since my last post/ pics in June thankfully I've started quite a few new pieces and even finished a couple! So I'm thinking it might be fun to randomly snap pictures around the studio including the stuff I usually don't show... screw reservation! :) At the moment, my computer is fried so until I get the part to fix it, here are a few random wip pics that were in my cell camera you may or may not have already seen ;)

Weird lil gourd head creature - paperclay & plastercloth

My first start at a pair of paperclay hands -

Random Body Parts, Sculpted feathers, the start of a raven mask and a teeeeny tiny dragon

Lil dragon in a half shell who will probably be removed and put into something else later...

and I guess that's it for now.. more very soon!

As always, thanks so much for visiting!! Hopefully I'll be able to post and share more frequently once things settle down a bit.

LOVE and big hugs :)

Sprite

New Stuff! Dragons and Baby Bird Dragon-Creatures??

2010-06-20T13:44:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! Hope you have all been super and are enjoying the summer so far!

I made a little more progress on the paper clay bust but still have much more work to do yet. Before I can move further I need to get his horns, teeth & spikes made so I can embed them in the clay and start constructing the wing frames.

Here's where we are so far:

Thankfully, playing with paperclay inspired me to start some other new projects. It's so great to be creating again! I'm sculpting, drawing, painting, a little of everything! Yippee! I'm currently working on the courage to put up a couple of older drawings up (you know larger than thumbnail size) ha ha ha hopefully soon!

A few weeks ago I started playing with the Firm Super sculpey. I don't know why but i had convinced myself this stuff was going to be as hard as a rock, impossible to condition and would need to be chiseled into rather than sculpted with. Of course it is not at all like that so it needlessly sat in my drawer for years!

Sometimes with new or different clay(s) stranger than normally strange creatures emerge. I started sculpting thinking a dragon was about to be born but instead a baby bird dragon creature hatched from my clay!? Cute, but odd little creature isnt it!? He looks hungry, I wonder where his mommy is (hopefully finding him some food) and what she looks like.

Needs much work yet, horns, teeth, feet! ;) wing membranes and possibly some feathers or fuzzy flocking in areas cuz baby bird fuzz is just too cute not to include. :D

This little one is being cured in the oven in stages the brownish areas are where I temporarily cured to hold details with a heat gun and roasted it. No worries it'll be painted anyway - speaking of which...I haven't a clue what colors he'll be, yellow, gold/ blue? Black, purple & red? ANY suggestions? Please!? :)

That other lil blob next to him is a really rough start of a sleeping mousey looking creature.

As for the clay, I like working with it, not sure if its as strong as I would have imagined it to be but perhaps sitting in a drawer for years had something to do with that. The pieces is fine but I think I'll add some strengthener to it next time.

OH! and in closing, I see a few new readers, welcome and thank you all for being here! It truly makes my heart happy! :) Especially since I'm not the most frequent blogger and am long winded when I do post! To show my appreciation, I'm considering having a giveaway open to followers at 200 or so. That should give me a lil time to figure out what its going to be hee hee :) So stay tuned!

As always, Thanks so much for visiting!

BIG hugs,
Sprite

I'm back! and playing with paper clay! ;D

2010-05-10T12:28:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone! My goodness time has flown hasn't it!?

My apologies for the lack of updates, after my last entry my camera lens jammed so I've been without one. I was taking wip pics for an upcoming class and think I got some sand and glue in there, oops! Lesson learned ;) I'd also been in a major creative slump and when that happens I mostly draw and experiment with new mediums here and there - nothing terribly exciting but keeps me sane anyway...

Then last week I was reminded of how short life is with heartbreaking news of Hannie's passing... an amazing, awe inspiring incredible artist....who will be deeply missed....

Suddenly...my slump lifted. I didn't want to waste another precious moment waiting to play with materials I've wanted to experiment with, I grabbed the package of paper clay that I've had for quite a while and quickly grabbed some supplies and tools and started slapping some of it on a larger than my normal scale dragon bust armature that's been waiting for some love. To my surprise, I don't mind the feel of the paperclay which I'm thrilled about!

I'd only used this stuff briefly once before at Sherry & Jean's retreat. I love the idea of using it but it was quite different than what i was used to (polymer & apoxie) I was disappointed to find I did not like it, couldn't work with it, hated how it sucked my paint right into the seams I poorly blended and so I begged for help and gave the rest of my opened pack to Sherry to keep and make something wonderful with (and I have no doubt that she did!) I've seen so many beautiful figures being made with it I knew there had to be more to it....and there is! I think I just needed to try it again when I wasn't as nervous as I was in class.

Here's a quick pic of my first paper clay piece snapped with my cell phone

It needs much work yet, including bulk, details, teeth, horns, wings etc, but i think I'm lovin the paper clay, (Although, truth be told I may add some of the finer details in my beloved apoxie sculpt.)

Hope you have all been super!!!!! As always thanks so much for visiting!!

BIG hugs,
Sprite

OWOH Winners & another very special Giveaway!

2010-02-16T07:10:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone! OWOH is over. Thank you all who stopped by to enter! It's so wonderful to meet you. :) Unfortunately, I wasn't able to visit as many blogs as I would have liked to this year but I will be sure to visit you all shortly. I'll also be having another giveaway as a thank you to my followers, soon. ;) Ok so here we go.....

As I mentioned I"d donated a piece for the ADO giveaway, what a fabulous response to an incredible giveaway! Congrats to Cathy!!!! of Christmas Corgi! She won my piece :)

And Congrats to Joanna Thomas! Who was random generator picked # 27. She's the winner of my giveaway!

It was quite difficult to capture their true coloring which is golds, copper, bronze and interference colors. I truly hope you both like them when they arrive.

I had a very pleasant surprise yesterday when I was informed that I was the lucky winner of this gorgeous piece of silk fabric from Shashi's giveaway!

Isn't it yummy?!

and....

Before I let you go, I wanted to tell you all about another a very special giveaway my friend Sue is having on her blog, It's called Thanksgiving in February.

Trust me, it is definitely special, I don't think you'll want to miss it. I'm headed over shortly to enter myself! ;)

Have a super fantastic & wonderful & creative day and as always thank you for visiting.

Hugs,
Sprite

OWOH - One World one Heart Blog Giveaway is here! :D

2010-01-25T04:45:00.001-08:00

Hello Everyone, it's wonderful to see and meet you!
Won't you join me on a magical carpet ride? :)

Lisa at A Whimsical Bohemian (http://awhimsicalbohemian.typepad.com)
Started this awesome event in 2007. The idea was to bring bloggers together from around the world who may never ordinarily meet through a blog giveaway. Last year there were over 900 participants! To find out more about this event please check it out at:http://www.oneworldoneheart.typepad.com/
be sure to visit some of the others on the list! :)

I participated last year and it was so much fun I'm excited and thrilled to do it again! I met so many wonderful people... Thanks Lisa for creating and hosting such a wonderful event!

My giveaway is a small, one of a kind - 3 1/2 x 3 1/2 INCH - Mixed Media shadowbox style wall hanging created by me. :)

It's made primarily of recycled, natural found items, left over project pieces, lots of love, glues, textile hardeners and acrylic paint.

Work in progress pic:

and here are a few updated pictures of the piece basically finished.
It was not easy to photograph something metallic!

View in the shade....

Side view: I love texture!

Here's how to enter:

Simply leave a comment on this post! :) You may still enter even if you don't have a blog but please be sure to leave me a way to contact you in your comment.

Last chance to enter will be Feb 14th, Midnight, EST.
I will be using the automatic generator number picker thing to select the winner. It'll be announced here on February 15th and you will be contacted either via blog or email.

If you've won and receive an email/comment from me please get back to me asap. If I don't hear anything back within 3 days of the deadline I'll redraw the name thinking you fell off the planet, which I hope is not the case!

Sound fun? Then, great luck! :)

oh! I almost forgot, I also donated another small 2 1/2 inch x 5 1/2 inch wall hanging / ornament type piece for the ADO blog giveaway :) Here's a quick picture of it.
To see it better, click it to enlarge.

Pop over for a chance to win it and meet some amazing artists. There are 17 prizes being offered!

As always, thank you so much for visiting, I hope you will come again soon. Have a super~fantastic and wonderful day!

Big hugs,
Sprite

Random Post Alert! Monday photo & New Stuff :D

2010-01-24T08:24:00.000-08:00

Well that didn't take very long.. Monday came & went and now its almost Monday again and where is my photo you ask? Still in my phone camera! The theme was shadows and we've had a pretty gloomy week so there weren't many shadows to snap pictures of.. I got a few in NYC reflecting off the buildings.... but I think this is much more fun.. look (not so great) shadow puppets! :D

Bunny rabbit..

Baby Camel??

Ostrich??

I think tomorrows theme is supposed to be my favorite coffee cup, while I have a few I really like I don't think I have a "favorite", but I do like the one in this picture... which conveniently was in my camera, so it counts! I just recently hung that shelf to get a few Wips off the sculpting table... as you can see there's quite a few still on the table. They keep me company ;)

In other news... I've been playing around with some new stuff....

I finished these two headpieces a couple of weeks ago. They were the result of Jean Bernards newest class on making Headpieces. Click on that sentence if your curious about the class... They were sooo much fun to make & extremely addictive!

The little flowers I added are craft porcelain which I had been experimenting with.... I'm really liking this stuff!

Hmm?....
Think he might be royalty!? I suppose he'll tell me eventually.... ;)

I'm also trying really hard to finish up a little shadow box type wall hanging for the One world one heart event that starts tomorrow.... so I must go slap on a coat of paint but expect another update tomorrow with the details if you'd like a chance at the giveaway... :)

Have a super~ fantastic day everyone!!! Thanks so much for visiting....

Big hugs,
Sprite

Photo a Week - "Something New" :)

2010-01-14T09:38:00.000-08:00

I'm late! I'm late ! for a very important date! Well, it's not Monday but better late that not at all right? :D

This weeks theme is something new. I have quite a bit of "new" going on here but this particular "something new" deserves it's own entry!

The other day I got a wonderful surprise from my friend Linda.
Apparently I won one of her blog giveaways!! :D

The box contained a pretty little vase filled with these beautiful shells that Linda collected herself in Florida. There were also battery operated mini lights and fiber optics to add to the vase. My goodness the woman even thought to put in batteries for both!!

I'm not sure if I was supposed to but I used both types of lights and I LOVE it! Isn't this gorgeous?!

All lit up in the dark

Thank you sooo much Linda!!!! And thank you all for visiting :)
Have a super fantastic day!

hugs,
Sprite

A Photo a week!

2010-01-04T17:38:00.000-08:00

As I mentioned in my previous post, I'm participating in "a photo a week challenge". It's really neat, like a glimpse into the participants lives. If you'd like more info head over to Linda's blog :) This weeks is a free choice of whatever we wanted to take a picture of. Most of the weeks to follow will have a theme.

All day I wondered what my first photo would be of... and then I had the challenge of finding some working batteries somewhere in this house to be able to snap it when I figured out what it would be. I managed to "borrow" some for a few minutes and just then as I was putting them in the camera, I walked in the room to find my beautiful lil? black kitty Mira, sitting in an old chair (my grandmas) by the lil electric fireplace in my studio.

She's such a good cat, she gives great hugs and kisses and is a just a sweetie, she's also blind.

She gets along fine though, in fact so well that although it's been confirmed, sometimes it's questionable ;)

Here's some trivia and history for anyone who wants to read it :) I have 5 kitties I adore, all of which are rescues.

I've had her for about 10 years. I used to help out a little at the vet/adoption center where I adopted my two boys from. I walked in one day to find this tiny little black thing facing the back of the cage crying/meowing. When I'd asked what was wrong they told me she'd gotten adopted so they fixed her but she was too little and young and she died. They resuscitated her but she came back without her eyesight and the people who were going to adopt her decided they didn't want her anymore because she was blind. Awww! It broke my heart. They weren't charging any adoption fees since she was disabled, I had no idea what I'd do with three cats (kittens!), let alone a blind one in my very small apt but it didn't matter. I stuck that little tiny thing in the front pocket of the orange hoodie sweater I was wearing, got her medication because her stomach was all shaved and infected, put it in my other pocket and took her home and nursed her to health.

Mira, is short for miracle... shhh cheesy, I know.... ;)

Thanks for visiting!

HUGS,
Sprite

Happy New Year! :D

2009-12-31T13:10:00.000-08:00

Hello my lovely friends in blog land :) I hope you all had a wonderful holiday.

This served to be a very interesting and crazy year, I can't wait to see whats in store in 2010! I'm hoping it's a fully recovered, creatively productive, happy, healthy year! For everyone!

I thought I'd start the new year off right, with a blog update! :D

I'm taking Linda's Photo a week challenge which is to upload a picture every Monday. It's been a wonderful glimpse into the lives of those who participated last year and I'm really excited to join them this year. It certainly ought to keep me on my toes! ;) I've added the badge over there on the right. ;) For more details pop over to her blog.

Secondly, though I've been very very busy with the holidays, I managed to straighten up the studio a bit. I have a few new years resolutions but the biggest is attempting to let go of any reservation, create to my hearts content without fear, start some new projects asap & finally finish some of these WIPS! I can use all the motivation I can get, so if you'd like to join the ufo/ wip challenge please let me know! :)

I'll be having a little blog giveaway in the coming months, hopefully some free tutorials as well as a lil new class to share. :D

In closing, here are the ornaments I made for this years Holiday ornament swap.
I love making these snow people! However they are very hard to photograph!

These are sculpted in polymer and coated in many layers of "snow" (powder/ glitter & various grades of glass shards and beads)

Hard to see but he has a smiling mouth :)

This one is Mister Snowflake. Upon closer inspection, you can see the snow formations, swirls and irridescent beads form a "blowing" face. Can you see it?

How about now? ;)

I absolutely adore sculpting/ carving, scenes inside little shells. It's probably one of my favorite things to do, possibly because it's a lot like drawing and allows me to bring out a bigger piece of the vision. An ocean sky...

A winter night sky viewed through a trees branches...

After spending the day swimming through the sky, between the clouds and the breeze anxiously awaiting nightfall,
It finally arrives, her friend, the moon and the mesmerizing twinkling little stars...

She follows and catches a shooting star and drifts to the moon with it to rest...
The warmth and glow of the moon embrace her, a blanket from the starry midnight; ocean sky
wraps itself around her as she falls asleep.....

Of the stars, she dreams...

Here's wishing all of you a super fantastic and safe New Years. ::Raising a toast:: May it be filled with family, friends, love, laughter, warmth, health and peace.

Hugs n love,
Sprite

Yipppeee!! & New piece :D

2009-12-18T00:53:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone! I hope you are enjoying the season :D

My apologies for the lack of postings. Geesh would you look at the date?!! I'd been working on my annual holiday ornaments and since they were all surprises I couldn't post pics. Usually that's the only swap I am able to participate in but lucky me while I was home recovering I had the time and honor of swapping with a special person and friend.

I have my very own magical fantastical Bonehead from none other than Flora at Boneheadstudios! Woo hoo! I love him to pieces!!! He and Mr. Coolie hang right in my studio where I can see and enjoy them everyday! Her work is Awesome!

Here's my bonehead :D isn't he just absolutely wonderful?!
My pics will never do him justice and yet he still looks fabulous!

Here's the one I made her....

"Baby Boo Bones"

A ghostly lil dragon wrapped in a comfy boo blankie sheet,
covered in dewy silken spun cobwebs
holding his favorite snack, a bunch a bones without the meat!

Sculpted in glow in the dark polymer so he glows entirely, but his bones, cobwebs, horns, teeth and the word "Boo" are not, so when you turn out the lights his features are distinguishable, and so is "BOO" :D Think he could scare anyone? Probably not, but this picture certainly may! It's the best I could get of it glowing... :/

The post office lost him temporarily and I'm just so relieved and glad he made his way to her safely. He looks so happy to be there!! I hope she loves him as much as I loved creating him for her. Thank you again Flora!! :)

Big hugs,
Sprite

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

2009-10-31T12:33:00.000-07:00

Happy Halloween Everyone!! :D

I thought I'd post a quicky on the lil guys I've been working on. They still need lots of work, cleaning, painting, wings, embellishing etc. but here's what they look like so far. I am having sooo much fun with them!! Now to decide on their colors. Any suggestions? :)

My lil Trick r Treat ers?

The first one's a lil chubby baby bat dragon, sitting in a Halloween candy bucket and will be munchin on some bones, candy corn and innards. He'll have bat wings. See how chubby he is from eating all those treats? :D

The second lil one is fast asleep in his caldron bubble bath (bubbles to come later ;) Possibly tired from trick or treating. The skeleton mask he's wearing is on an elastic cord, it's positionable and removable.

Have a wonderful day, eat lots of candy, have lots of fun, and be safe!!

Enjoy the weekend and thanks so much for visiting!! Happy Halloween!

BIG hugs,
Sprite

Roboboot?! ;)

2009-10-27T20:45:00.000-07:00

Hello There :) I hope you have all been super!

This years been kinda crazy, I recently had my third foot surgery all in less than 11 months, this time by a different doctor, it looks like he was able to correct whatever went wrong and it seems to have went well. I'm really excited and finally feel like I'll be able to walk (normally) again after this is over with. Third times a charm? Woo hoo! yeah! :)

This is the new robotic looking boot cast above (my roboboot!?) I have to wear while on crutches for the next 8 + weeks. Cool looking isn't it? Can't say I haven't worn similiar ones ;) but that sucker is heavy! I'm getting quite the workout!

Hopefully Ill have some new pictures to share shortly. I did take a few pics of some new stuff I was working on before surgery I haven't gotten to look through yet. I'm looking forward to getting back to them.

It's funny how pain meds can create such wonderful inspiring visuals but you lack any desire to move and feel too nauseous to do any of em HA HA HA. Now that I'm taking less, I'm hoping the newly arranged- so I can sit and create with my leg up and watch movies - studio, is manageable. Gosh I hope so I'd been going stir crazy! I couldn't do much of anything fun, thank goodness for kitties, reruns and drawing. ;) So now I need some new movies to watch, see any fun ones or have any favorites you could recommend? :) It'd be much appreciated!

Oh!!! and I received two awesome Awards from two awesome peoples!!!!!

The fabulous Jodi Creager has presented me with the Kreative Blogger Award! WOW! What an honor! Thanks so much Jodi!

and lovely Anjah has given me the "Este blog e um sonho" award which is a beautiful little stamp which I believe translates to "This blog is a dream" :) As is hers, thank you sweetie!

I'm flattered & honored that both thought of lil me!

As soon as I can sit here and think straight enough to answer the questions, I'll be back to pass them along! THANK YOU so much ladies!! :)

Thanks for visiting & for keeping me company!
Have a super day!

HUGS,
Sprite

Oh my! A magical box of Creager Happiness!

2009-09-30T16:46:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone! My goodness I'm so excited I just have to share!
I am sure you are all familiar with the Creagers yes? :) Well, a few weeks ago they had a blog giveaway. A name would be drawn from their followers list and the prize would be random goodies laying around the studio. A prize for enjoying and visiting such an inspiring, most entertaining blog? Huh!

I hoped and prayed I'd win but never for a second did I envision that it could actually happen. Well, while I was away a name was drawn and there sitting in my inbox when I returned home was an email letting me know it was me!! :O I still cannot believe it, Happy belated birthday to me! I rarely win anything let alone something like this!

It's here! It's here! I came home the other day to a glorious box of Magical Creager happiness sitting outside my door!

What makes this all even more unbelievable is the size and contents of the goodie box. Oh-my-GAWD! Would you look at what they did?! It's filled to the brim with stuff! Random goodies including these awesome skeleton finger molds (they made me do a double take hee hee) and flashy fibers to play with!

Their DVDS?! :O Holy **!!

A Creager collectors piece?! I'm not ready to open it quite yet - it'll need to go in a protected cabinet but here's a quick peek at the wonderful elf inside.

And, as if the above wasnt more than plenty.... there's still more!

Jewelry! Sculpted hands! Props! and The coolest hand armatures I've ever seen! All incredible.

A poster, cards, dvd including photos of their amazing, inspiring work and a wonderful little handwritten note. Can you see the print of Richards train drawing below? I can't get over the details. I took separate photos of it but it comes up sideways on blogger. Jodi's photo's of it are so much better than mine anyway so here's the link to it in their etsy shop. I cannot wait to have these framed.

I'm seriously still in a bit of shock. Not just at the combined talent of these two artists but also their kindness and generosity. This box left me temporarily speechless and each time I go through its contents, it happens again.

Jodi, Richard, you're amazing. These gifts made my heart all warm and fuzzy. I will enjoy them for years to come. No doubt they will keep me company and help during my recovery over the next few months. From the bottom of my heart, thank you.

I truly hope everyone is having a super week and that something magical happens to enhance it. Thanks so much for stopping by and sharing my excitement with me. It means a lot. I certainly feel like one lucky lil girl. :)

Life's good...

hugs,
Sprite

Elderly Witch and her elderly pet dragon...

2009-09-27T17:01:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone! My goodness time has flown.
My apologies for the lack of posts! It's been crazy, yet again!

I just got back from the retreat with Sherry & Jean. It was of course awesome! Learned a ton! Sherry and her family warmly opened up their amazing home to all of us. It was so special, I can hardly wait to be back there next year. Hopefully I'll be able to get up some pictures of all the fun soon.

In the weeks prior to the retreat, I'd been desperately trying to pack and ship my supplies, finish my retreat challenge piece amongst many other things. I created a few pieces before I left that needed to go with me, when I get pics I'll share those too.

For now, here's my newest...
I learned an incredible amount during its creation. I've never before attempted, this old. I think I'm most excited about her hat and little tiny pocket! Can you see it? hee heee!

A few years ago a friend of mine shared a poem with me that was found on the internet, written by "angel" as pertains to commercial type witches and why they may have appeared as they did. It sheds a very different light. It's a very sad poem and it has stuck with me since. You can read it here if you'd like... She Returns...

This piece was indirectly inspired by both the poem and my good friend who shared it with me, who just happens to be a witch.

I hope she likes the, kinder gentler vision and interpretation. I wanted to show her as the gentle old woman she is, someone who might even just be tired of acting out the part every Halloween simply because of how she is portrayed and gladly retires to her quiet spot in the woods, to her faithful companion, her elderly little dragon.

As always, thank you for stopping by :)

Hope you are all enjoying the season.

Love and hugs,
Sprite

On the Sculpting Table :)

2009-08-22T14:24:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone!

Since things are once again crazy, I figured I'd share what’s on the sculpting table before more time passes! Hamadryad has been put on hold, I poured so much energy into that piece that when I finally stopped working, I was drained and couldn’t create for days. This happens to me often, but it’s not ideal when you have so much to do! So now I’m trying to get things back on track, running out of time and attempting to crank things out.

I have the retreat next month in Iowa with Jean & Sherry & cannot wait! I’m so excited but sooo unprepared! I dyed some fibers and need to get my supplies packed and shipped shortly.

They are having a Halloween/ harvest challenge at the retreat. There is just not time to construct the piece I had in mind but along the same lines, I’m attempting my first very elderly woman/ witch of sorts and her elderly dragon! The dragon pics were blurry so i'll snap some new ones soon. I sure hope to finish in time but if not, I will when I return. Still plenty of time to get it in for the ADO Halloween Challenge either way :D

This is what we’ll be making, isn’t it awesome?!
This large bug woman is a collaboration between Jean & Sherry.

I sculpted my head, well two of them, but decided on this first one since it goes better with the creature I have in mind. ;) It'll be covered and painted so i didn't go crazy perfecting anything. Here they were getting ready to hit the oven. :D

Recently my polymer group had the dragon challenge which inspired me to try a larger scale fully standing dragon which I kept wanting to do but putting off for one reason or another. I didn’t get to finish it but I’m trying to get him far enough to get into the oven before the trip so he doesn’t get ruined. Here he is so far, he's very rough and pics arent to sharp either. For a while there he looked like he was doing a chicken dance! Still kinda does doesn't it? ha ha ha It was going to have a little tiny dragon hatchling along with it in an earthy crystal setting, but now I keep getting this weird vision of the dragon, trick or treating with a pumpkin basket?! what the!? HA HA HA Could just be the effects of the season approaching but I can’t decide whether to run with it or run from it!

Here is another little guy who stole my attention. I think he's on his way to becoming a chubby candy corn eating baby bat dragon.

Oh!! and I finally added some bits to my cage piece to tie the class trio together. So see I haven't entirely failed my UFO challenge! woo hoo! I sure hope Sherry likes it. :)

Ps: Once things settle down a bit, I am planning to do a small blog contest/ give away as a little thank to my readers and followers. I can’t believe its at 111 today! Thank you so all much! :) Please stay tuned for details!

Have a super fantastic and wonderfully creative day.

As always, thanks so much for stopping by!

BIG hugs,
Sprite

Fan~Frieken~Tastic! ART!

2009-08-02T19:57:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone! We'll I have a few new pieces under way but I have not gotten to take pics yet. I will shortly, I promise! :)

I received two very special awards recently from my friend Cindy. I'm totally honored and completely flattered that she thought of me for both! Wow! Thank you sooo much Cindy!!! She's new to blogging, please help me welcome her and her awesome work into blogland! She is really something wonderful!

The Bella Sinclair Award…is a very special award and the person it was made for is a very special woman. She is a sister-friend, a talented artist, A great mom, a poet, a mental ninja, a muse, beautiful, a genius, and her friend-sister Ces created it for her.

Read the full article HERE.

The Byrum Spiritual Award means
“You make a difference … I know, because you have for me!”

There are quite a few people that fit both award descriptions! I guess I'll have to narrow it down (for now!) so, I'd like to pass these awards to my very special friends, Sherry, Jean and Judy.

Judy & I met a few years ago on BPCAG; our beginner group. She helps us all on a daily basis. She's been a great friend to me and is always so helpful. She also is very new to blogging.

I have got to share this with you. My group recently had a dragon challenge, I didn't get to participate but the entries were all terrific. Judy's piece won and in a minute you will clearly see why. Her newest sculpture is amazing and incredible. Think I'm kidding? I'm not! I have gotten so many emails from people thinking I created this piece, it's very close to my heart and I wish I could say I did, but alas I did not!

It's unbelievable and truly unique. Ready for this?
It's a dragon, but not quite.. It's dead, his remains.
An amazing creatures bones!

A visual?.....

A long life, with many battles... a once strong being, glides into this spot to rest, he's tired, frail and weak. He rests his head on a rock and diminishes. A beautiful creature has fallen, his bones left behind, showing his amazing structure and feats.

An unbelievable and amazing piece.

Congrats Judy :)

If you love her piece as much as I do, or even shed a tear because of it, maybe pop over to her blog and let her know that you enjoyed her work. :)

Thank you to both ladies! And thank you all for helping me welcome them into blogland in celebrating incredible artwork!

BIG hugs,
Sprite

ADO Elemental Challenge - Earth - Hamadryad (Dryad)

2009-07-17T17:39:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone! :)

It's time for The ADO Blog challenge, or shall we call it a party since this is so fun?! Yeah! Paarteeh'!

As previously mentioned, I'm participating in the ADO Elemental challenge, the challenge was to make a art doll/figure with one, two, three or all four of the Elements as inspiration, everyone was invited to join in the fun, members and non members, all levels and/or no experience necessary. We had a great turn out, 90 participants! Please be sure to visit the ADO blog to check out the fantastic pieces and other artists that were inspired by this challenge! The participants list is on the left. Please show some love by commenting to letting them know you stopped by. :)

I'm so glad I participated, it really motivated me to continually work on the piece and not procrastinate until mildly loosing interest. So far I'm really excited about where shes going and how close it is to what I envisioned.

Although today is the day we post our photos and I've been working on her as much as possible, I haven't quite finished yet. I'll be working on her more over the weekend and as I do hopefully we will get some nice weather so I can take some updated, clear pics. For now, I snapped a few just as the sun was going down. Just this side, the others aren't quite as finished ;) hee hee

In closing, I was asked the other day why I refer to her as a hamadryad. I thought I'd share, in case anyone else was wondering. There are different types of dryads, and wikipedia has provided me with the following definition to offer regarding this type...

Hamadryads (Ἁμαδρυάδες) are Greek mythological beings that live in trees. They are a specific species of dryad, which are a particular type of nymph. Hamadryads are born bonded to a specific tree. Some believe that hamadryads are the actual tree, while normal dryads are simply the entity, or spirit, of the tree. If the tree died, the hamadryad associated with it died as well. For that reason, dryads and the gods punished any mortals who harmed trees. The Deipnosophistae of Athenaeus lists eight Hamadryads, the daughters of Oxylus and Hamadryas:

As always, thank you so much for visiting! I truly appreciate that you took time out of your day to visit little me! :) Have a super fantastic and wonderful weekend!

BIG giant hugs,
Sprite

New WIP -- Dryad ~ Hamadryad

2009-07-09T18:43:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone :) My goodness time has flown!

I had another surgery recently, I guess the first time wasn't enough but lets hope the second is! Now I'm trying to catch up on all things. Not too inspiring being stuck in bed, I must say! but I did manage to set up my etsy shop which then inspired a few small sculpted pendant type bead thingies and ornaments. Some of these items should be available soon. Thank you so much for all of your kind comments and inquires, they all mean so much!! :)

A few weeks ago I started a large piece which was mentioned on the ADO blog. (Thanks Zan!) Versions of this piece have been in my heart, head and have shown up in my drawings for years. The armature sat on my worktable for at least two, tell me why the uncontrollable cravings in my hands to sculpt it after all this time came at 2:30 in the morning when I needed to get up for work at about 6:30?! I never get enough sleep, insomnia, I've always had a form. Like it's wasting too much time to sleep even when I know it's important and heals our bodies. As I get older I'm starting to feel the effects and hope to get on track, I'm trying! but when things come out as a result of lack of sleep I remember why I have this problem in the first place! Not enough time in a day. So many sculptures would never have been born if not at unideal times! ha ha ha. :)

Anyway, as luck would have it, the desire to create it came at the same time as the Elemental ADO challenge so I am trying to focus and use this motivation to make the deadline and finish it. It's going to be a big and wonderful event! If you haven't heard of it yet please check out the blog for details. You can even participate even if you are not part of ADO :) and I sure hope you will! If you're not familiar with this group of fantastic artists, please check out their blog to see some of their work and of course to visit them from July 17-19 to see their finished challenge pieces. Such a nice bunch too!

This is my Dryad, well a hamadryad...

Some of you may have seen a couple of these but I wanted to share a few more since I was finally able to get a few alternate views and of the lil creatures found tangled in there. Do you see what I see?

I'm also working on a new dragon and it's much bigger than my norm. I'm having so much fun! Pics soon but for now time to catch up on some blog hopping! Oh how I've missed you ;)

As always, thank you so much for stopping by!
Take care & stay well.
Big hugs and tons o luv,
Sprite

Random post, and pics to prove it! :D

2009-05-18T18:50:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone! I hope you have all been super :)

Things have once again been crazy. The new classes have just started and so I may be a little quiet here and there while I finish up the rest of the lessons, but not today! I cannot believe how many photo's I took!!! While I pulling em' I thought maybe I'd show you a few of the others snapped recently that were mixed in the bunch :) Here we go!

First up - I AM in fact? the queen of procrastination!

A few weeks ago, while I was supposed to be working and preparing the lessons, I took a little much needed break. We had a gorgeous day ahead so I wanted to take advantage, plant a few flowers and clean the deck before it was too late to plant flowers on the deck - again. My little sister and I went to home depot, picked up some pretty flowers and when I headed outside to plant them and clean up the deck, I quickly remembered I still had the once living Christmas tree sitting in the middle of it. Woopsie. (Notice the pine needle covered floor?)

It's been there a while so I just kinda overlooked the fact that maybe it shouldn't still be there?
I had foot surgery and at the time the easiest solution was take off the vintage glass ornaments so they didn't break and put it outside. Although it's now MAY, this is still acceptable since I use these branches & needles in my work right? (yay more reasons to never get rid of anything :D) After all, I did need sticks for the cage class right? But how many? There lies the problem.

I love twigs, branches, leaves all of that, I collect them and sometimes to what might be a seemingly unhealthy level. (I have twigs, crunched leaf bits & have been known to have a few rocks on occasion... in my purse. You know its not right, when you put your hand in your bag and come out with a splinter!) With that said, so low I hope no one heard it, selecting just a few to use for class was not an option because they are all so unique and individually different I needed them all!? So, instead I spent the next few hours, (uhhh first removing the lights I had not taken off previously because I could not hop around the tree to get them) and then clipping the branches off the tree and putting them in a box to use for the class piece later and some just to hold on to.

Can someone please tell me why my photo is coming up sideways?

By the way, the other half of the tree is still on the deck. Who needs branches? ha ha ha jk!

Here's my Lenny cat looking all kinds of cute through the kitchen window :)

and this is three of my five kitties looking at mommy like she's nuts through the screen door. Really, they wanted to come out to play :) Although Sabre's eyes are slightly closed, I'm excited that it came out at all. It's been impossible to get them together, one either moves, eyes closed, meowing, etc..

Next up, I have a new dragon who may just be the first to see ebay :) I love how this little guy is turning out so far so we'll see ;) That and if my sister doesn't steal it. Whenever she/they stop(s) by the house she sticks them right in her pocket and tries to get away with them! She doesn't even seem to mind if they are finished or not, just that they should be hers :) Too cute!

This one is a beach - glass dragon. He's sculpted in polymer right onto the base but his base will also consist of shards of beach washed glass and most likely a mix of earth and sand. His horns and scales are also beach glass. This is the only clear pic in the bunch but I'll put up others when it's complete. I've started painting it in my usual washes and layers so its always interesting to see what color it ends up, right now purples. My first very purple dragon!

This little guy in the middle will be in a pod or shell of sorts. He will probably be the first available on etsy. I'd like to get two finished and up there at once so he's not all alone ;)

And this one I just can't wait to get back to! My lil rodent faerie. She looks a little rough here, she has only had her first wash. I've done a little more on her since, but haven't taken photo's yet. ;)

Oh! I almost forgot, I should have a few mini tutorials to share with you soon. Once I started snapping pics for the lessons, I could not stop myself, there was so much stuff I wanted to share! So the bonus's I'll put on my blog for everyone to see if and when I can find the time to put them all together. There just isn't enough hours in a day is there.... sigh.. ;) Oh well, I'll just have to live an extra long and/or immortal life so I can get it all accomplished! ;)

Have a great day everyone and thanks so much for visiting!!!

Big hugs,
Sprite

New Pics! - Miniature~ Baby Dragon in Nesting Cage - Class :)

2009-05-08T15:19:00.000-07:00

We've had had mostly rain and not much sun for the past couple of weeks. When I snapped the class photos indoors I knew they were a bit dark and kinda figured they didn't look quite right, it was driving me mad!

We had a little sun this morning before I left for work so I rushed out and snapped a couple pics since we were expecting thunderstorms again by night. My earlier blog entry photos really are pretty bad considering you can actually SEE the piece in these new ones! My apologies for the dark and/or crappy pics earlier, but thank you so much for all your kind comments and support regardless! Very much appreciated!!

I'm adding a few of the photos taken today in natural light and hope they are a bit better. For those who have already signed up I sure hope you like the more accurate ones! :)

Click to enlarge

(See the difference from those in the post below?)

For anyone who would like more info on these two classes, please see my previous blog post or you can visit Jean Bernards online class website for the details :) Early Bird Specials til May 15!
Thanks so much!

Have an awesome weekend everyone! and a Happy Mothers day to all the moms out there :) ((Luv you mommy!!)) :)

Big hugs,
Sprite

*Sprite*