Goosey Gander ~ an ATC/ACEO – painted for World Watercolour Month

There are films that I watched as a child which obviously nestled their way into my heart and made a home there.  Or … perhaps it was some of the characters from the film(s) which had nestled into my heart….

I sat at my desk, paintbrush in hand and waited for inspiration.  I’d been singing inside my head for a couple of hours the song from Aritistocats – the one where they sing over and over  “Every body, every body, every body wants to be a cat” – as Thomas O’Malley’s friends (all cats) all play the instruments and sing the Jazz song.

Ok… you’re singing it now.  sorry about that.

Well … there are two characters in The Aristocats which are my most favourite – Amelia and Abigail Gabble.  The two faaaabulous Geese, who have a particular walk, and a particular piece of music which accompanies that walk.

I knew what I needed to paint …  but I had a choice.  Paint the Goose which I had pictured in my mind … or  go and look for a photo of Amelia and Abigail so that I could be reminded of how they actually looked.

Somehow looking for a photo felt like cheating, so I was going to have to remember what they looked like from memory.

I knew there was something fancy about them, and I guessed at a big ol’ ribbon tied around their necks….  like this . . .

‘Goosey Gander’.  An ATC / ACEO Painted for #WorldWatercolorMonth

But I found out that they didn’t have ribbons tied around their necks ….  they had their bonnets tied around their heads!  Aw bummer.  I’d already painted the goose with a ribbon by this time… ahh, I decided that I’d keep it exactly as it was.  So I did.

For those of you who’ve forgotten the Miss Abigails and Miss Amelia’s walk …  I’ve been to YouTube and collected a video …  You don’t have to watch this all the way through … you’ll get the ‘walk’ within seconds.

… I apologise if you’re now going to humming that tune for the rest of the day.  But hey .. if I’ve got to suffer, then you can come and join me! lol  😀

If you want to see that walk from the back I have another offering…  but I have a tale to tell before you watch it:-

Mr. Cobs recently painted our decking – which looks fabulous and I’m thrilled with it.  The cats were kept off it while it was drying.  However – Miss Maisie (neurotic at the best of times) took a dislike to the decking paint and to show her utter contempt, she developed a special walk, which I christened  ‘The Decking Walk‘ – – a walk which is a seriously odd thing to watch and funny in the extreme!  She pulls this wild face look – ears back, eyes the size of saucers and she crosses the decking to get into the house as if she’s trying to lift up her back paws and only walk on her two front paws.

Sadly … she cannot do the  required two feet walk.  So the resulting walk is bally hysterical!!!  Seriously so.

I knew that I knew this walk from somewhere but just couldn’t place it … however in trying to find the video of the ‘Goose Walk’ by Amelia and Abigail,  I suddenly had this LIGHTBULB moment inside my brain as I watched the beginning of this video…. – Watch the little white female kitten doing the walk …  THAT’S how Miss Maisie walks over the decking …. even though the decking has been dry for SEVERAL weeks.  She still feels the need to do  ‘The Decking Walk‘ …  so please watch and enjoy.  (again … you don’t have to watch the whole video … just a bit of it.)…

 

I ask myself alllll the time,  “why me?“.   Why do I get all these funny animals?  All of them are ‘broken’, like plants on the ‘hospital table’ at the garden centre.  No one else wants them so muggins here takes them home and loves them.

Anyhoo ...  back to Goosey Gander.  She’s a little ATC in size – so  2.5inches by 3.5inches and painted all in watercolours.

I took photographs in different lighting to try and get a decent photograph which captured the colours.  This photograph was taken with light flooding in from the window.    #WorldWatercolorMonth

This photograph was taken with the flash on.  #WorldWatercolorMonth

… and this photo was taken with the desk lamps turned on and shone on it.  #WorldWatercolorMonth

You can see the difference it makes to the colours, and to the way the light plays on the the painting, kind of picking out details that you could ignore in other photos.

Ack … let’s not get into a photography lesson eh?  LOL.

Thank you so much for coming and sharing a coffee with me.

Wishing you a very happy Tuesday  edit to change it to : Wednesday.  (It’s a good job that the fabulous  Tom Merriman  is awake, commenting on blogs, and wished me a Happy Wednesday. I was convinced that it was Tuesday today!).  May the hours pass peacefully and may you find some smiles hidden within the moments during your day.

Have a truly blessed day my friends.  ~

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There’s more to make-overs than surgery, clothes and cosmetics!

I have a couple of cup/mug coasters (mats) in my craftroom.  One to the right of my computer (no-one can sit at a computer without a coffee or a tea to one side), and another on what I call my ‘work desk’ – where I do the majority of my crafty things.  BUT … both of these mats are rather, umm…  old and grubby looking.  Bits of paint; spills – which although I’ve wiped up, have still stained;  little bits pull off where I’ve sat some Sellotape (well-known brand of sticky tape in the UK – yes, I know that Sellotape is the name of .. erm .. something else in another country).  Well look … why don’t I just face the shame and show you what one mat looked like.  Are you ready?  ……

When these were new, I absolutely adored them.  I have some  Cornishware  storage pots and other bits and pieces in my kitchen, and my dining room (in our previous cottage) linked to the kitchen and was very English country cottagey in style so these mats fitted in perfectly.

But …  years later . . .  they really aren’t good for man nor beast, as you can see,  hence the reason they’re in my craft room.  However … I looked at them a couple of days ago and said [to no one in particular]  … “those really need to be thrown away”.

A voice boomed over me like it came from out of the Heavens.  “WHAT DOES?”  (made me jump I can tell you!) … “Uh?”  I swung around on my chair to see Mr. Cobs stood behind me.  “Ohh… these.  <picking up the cup mat>  Look at these . . .   they really have seen their day and I sadly think it’s time to go.”   “No!  Don’t throw them away … paint them!  Paint something on them.  Flowers or something.  Paint something, like you used to!“.

Hmmm… Ok, I could see where he was going with this.  “That’s a good idea, you clever chap.  I shall do that very thing.  But … would you rub them down for me?”  (He knows I hate sandpaper.  It makes my flesh recoil.  <shudder>).  So he did … and this was the result:

The top layer was actually a paper/card layer, so rubbing the top down wasn’t difficult, but it did leave ridges which were impossible to totally get rid of.  Since the cup mats were only for me in my craft room I thought that I could get away with a few ridges.  So I set to work with some paints.  I first did two coats of Gesso – to help give it a ‘base’ to work on, and also to kind of help smooth out the ridges a little.  Then I gave it a coat of good quality black acrylic.

If you look carefully at the above photo you can see some of the ridges.  The coat of black paint was done in order to dull the next coat a little.  Kind of ‘knock back’ the colour I was going to apply next – a deep blue colour which I’d hand mixed –  and the black would ensure that the navy stayed ‘flat’ or kind of dull, in colour.

Once the navy was dry I could then begin a ‘picture’ of some description.  ….  Can you tell what it is yet?

Well I’m committed now so I’d better get on with it …

Now can you see what it is?  🙂  Yeah, it’s a Goose!  But … the chest is a bit flat there, isn’t it?  Aw, don’t worry … that bit is going to be hidden anyway so I won’t trouble myself about it.

This photo (above) I took with a flash, with the blind up, and two craft lamps on, so that you can see some of the details which I’ve added … like the shading under his/her chin, shading under the tummy and some detail to the feet.

I realised that I hadn’t shown you the colours of paints I’d used/be using on this project, so I took the opportunity of adding in the pots of colours while showing you that I’d changed his/her bow from looking like a Christmas red, into a tartan bow.  (I didn’t want anyone to think he was the fatted goose which we were all going to feast on at Christmas!  eeek!).

Surrounded by a vine, and four freshly laid eggs.

Finally … three LIGHT coats of a spray varnish and it’s finished.  You can see  from the background in this photo –  that the ridges from the sanded paper were still there … but they really aren’t that noticeable anymore.

Want to know the funny thing about this?  I am scared of geese (and horses, but we’ll talk about those another time)  … and what’s more … they KNOW IT TOO!  If ever I go anywhere where there are geese  … they surround my car until they’ve discovered the door which I need to get out of and then they  gather around the door and stand there LAUGHING AT ME.  They know I’m scared silly, and they mock me with their gaggling honks and giggling laughs.

If I visit somewhere – a lake, a walk with a stream running along side … and there are geese … those little bu&&ers make it their ambition to get to me and chase me. Honking all the way.

And yet … here I am painting a goose on one of my cup mats.  AM I CRAZY???  Obviously so.

 

When I’d finished painting this mug mat, I did have a little wonder to myself if perhaps this sort of thing would make a rather nice Christmas present for someone.  You could buy some MDF (Medium Density Fibreboard – sorry folks outside the UK but I don’t know what you call this where you are) and if you’re handy with a saw (or have someone handy with a saw) you could cut the MDF to size and paint a set of four/six coasters for someone special.

OR … if you have a child at school … how about a personalised mug mat for the teacher, as a Christmas present? (or present for anyone at any time).  Just a thought.  🙂

Happy Wednesday all.  Make it a good memory day.

Sending squidges your way  ~