Tiny Horsies

 My first two attempts at polymer clay sculptures, painted with acrylic inks. Horses, of course. The acrylics were really too thin, and hard to work with. So the inks may not be the best choice, but at this point almost everything in the house that hasn't actively run away has been painted with them. Maybe powdered pastels and fixative will work better next time.

Little polymer clay horses.

Grey draft horse. 

Arabian horse, apparently with casts on all four legs. Poor horsie.

The mane came out looking really cool though. 

The legs were the most awkward part, not sure what to do about that. I put little wire skeletons inside the clay, and the clay had a hard time sticking to it. So maybe I can skip the wire, or bake a few parts at a time.
Also learned the important lesson of doing the most delicate part last. Had a perfect set of ears on the draft horse, then got to messing with another part and realized I had smushed them.

Tiny Elephant

Playing with oil based clay lately, it's fun to mess with and doesn't ever harden.

Twister

I love bats, flying mammals rock. If people could fly, this is probably what we would look like.

 Even though bats are funny looking and kind of creepy, they are hugely important pollinators for many fruits we like to eat, especially mangoes and bananas. They also eat tons of bugs. Literally tons, every night. Unfortunately, many bat species all over the world are endangered, due to things like habitat loss and diseases. The good people at the Lubee Bat Conservancy work to protect fruit bats and their habitats around the world. They were nice enough to give me permission to draw one of their residents, and even sent me some extra pictures. I went a bit crazy and drew him twice, in pencil and pen.

Twister, a fruit bat that lives at the Lubee Bat Conservancy.

Twister II, copic pen on bristol paper, 11x14 in.

Twister, mixed media, pencil, charcoal, and white acrylic on bristol board, 12x20 inches. 

Vashti

I kept trying to draw this tiger from the Toronto Zoo at a reasonable size, like 8x10 or something, but I couldn't get it started. After a while, I realized that this tiger deserved to be drawn at life size. Most of the picture was drawn in charcoal, with highlights in white pastel and white acrylic paint. I initially tried to sketch in pen, before I realized that it was a waste of time, so scribbles in pen are visible here and there.

Vashti, 22x30 inches, mixed media on heavy paper.

Vashti, detail, 22x30 inches, mixed media on paper.

Much thanks to MoonsongStock on DeviantART for the reference photo!

Vashti, out on the porch to show the size.