Tag Archives: carving

Gigglesville Has a Mayor!

2 Jun

I am so in the thick of carving, I bought a new piece of balsa to carve besides some new canvases as I have promised a few pieces for friends. A promise is a promise regardless of the tennis elbow. I just need to find the inspiration to get that going.

In the meantime, I have given much thought to the township of Gigglesville. But before the town blooms, I think it needs a mayor, hence this character.

Now in my world, mayors in general are usually short and stout, so naturally the mayor of Gigglesville is shorter and wider than the usual citizens. But he has to also be different, therefore the cool shades instead of big round eyes.

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Nemesis of Gigglesville

29 May

It’s inevitable for every storyline that has happy giggling citizens living harmoniously and superheroes maintaining peace to have a nemesis who does nothing but wreck havoc and create fear. Hence, Gigglesville has EB to content with. EB as in Evil Buster.

So who is EB? He’s obviously an evil one with a name as such and he brings glum to the citizens, taking away their giggles and happiness.

Now all I need is to create the whole township! Carving has never been this fun!

Don’t be fooled by the color!
Pink can be evil.

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Defenders of Earth

26 May

I got so engrossed in this carving activity, I spawned off another batch of carvings, this time a line of superheroes and call them ‘Defenders of Earth’! These fellas are kinda like Avengers, a group of super beings that protect Earth from evil and what nots.

And unlike the citizens who only has serial numbers, these superheroes have names because they are well, superheroes and for practical reasons. Imagine rattling off a series of number to announce their arrival? Not very hip.

We have SuperOwl and his sidekick, SuperOink and they report to Lord Bubba. Together in their ‘O’Mobile, they traverse Gigglesville, Earth and the universe to maintain laughter and happiness.
Superheroes

Honestly, it’s quite fun to carve and build the story along…

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Citizens of Gigglesville

23 May

Lately I resurrected the carving hobby because I ran out of canvases to paint. Although I enjoy painting, in truth, I find the sweeping motion of the palette knife across a two feet canvas to be quite an arduous task. And I paint only once a week. It looks like the tennis elbow right arm is never recovering anytime soon and taking a long time to get well. Sigh…

But carving is okay. The arm doesn’t move that much and the balsa wood is not that hard to tackle.

The last batch of creatures created was back in July last year and recently, I labelled them ‘Citizens of Gigglesville’ and painted them all up. I must say proudly these creations of mine, all about an inch tall or thereabouts are rather cute little critters that bring a smile or giggle to whoever looks at them, hence aptly named citizens of this imaginary township.

Each and every character has a serial number instead of a name. With this, I see an interesting story developing.
Citizens-1

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Of SuperPig and SuperOwl

27 Apr

Lately I have this urge to create – draw, paint, carve or anything, just something to do to keep busy. There’s so much creative energy in me waiting to be unleashed. Must be the result of too much rest due to the tennis elbow.

Last week my golf buddies treated me to an early birthday lunch at Naughty Nuri’s and the restaurant gifted me with a souvenir, a wood carving of a piggy superhero. In fact, we were such good guests, the staff gave every one of us a figurine each! How nice.

This morning I looked at SuperPig with fond memories of last week’s good time with the ladies and made me wonder if I can carve the same. Hmm…

My last foray into carving owls stalled because the activity made the dining area messy. But with all this energy, maybe I should give this carving business another go. Perhaps a replica of the Naughty Nuri mascot or an owl with a cape? SuperOwl? Who knows?

There should be some spare balsa wood lying around and since I have to rest from golf, I will attempt this on top of the paintings, which are still ongoing with two canvases in queue.

  

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Feeling Restless

17 Oct

For several weekends I have been feeling very restless. It became more pronounced when I had to sit out from golf. And days that we don’t go out and do something, I become an unhealthy couch potato.

There were times I channeled my energy to art. So I painted and carved. But I don’t enjoy it when I am interrupted (mostly by official pet number one’s insistent barking for attention) or be at it for long periods of time. It’s very hard to find a balance. 

The stain glass activity on the whiskey bottles have stopped because I find it very time consuming and tedious. And it hurts my back if I bend over too long. As for the balsa wood carving, it’s very messy because with the ceiling fan on, the light wood chips fly everywhere!

I am torn on what to do next. Should I carve the remaining balsa wood, paint on canvas instead of whiskey bottles or try my hands at something new?

So much creative energy, so little activities…

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Losing Steam

12 Aug

Of late, I have been stuck at all levels of my virtual games so much so, I feel I am losing steam playing them.

Maybe I should stop. And immerse myself in the Olympics happening now in Rio. Or go back to reading especially that book on Genghis Khan that I started but stopped because the mountains were too epic for me. The book has been collecting a mountain of dust since then.

Or I could go back to carving owls. This too has lost steam because I have gotten lazy with it. It can get quite messy when the momentum picks up and I don’t like the cleaning up when I get done. But there simply has not been an opportunity to sit down quietly and be at it. Too much going in and out and this interrupts the focus. Losing steam. Sigh…

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What Next?

19 Jul

I have another foot long balsa wood and am contemplating carving something else other than owls. Not that I don’t like owls, I think having choices would be challenging. 

It has to be something round without limbs sticking out and easy to recognize. Hmm. Life choices…

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It’s a Zoo!

18 Jul

So I carved. And carved and carved over the weekend and created a mini zoo of sorts with my effort. In the process, I made a mess in the house with the wood flakes and dust flying everywhere. Can’t help it with the fan on at full blast as it was hot and humid.

The comments given were hilarious. I had a mention of a penguin, a frog and a Yoda for my owl carving attempts. I finally had some good results after the earlier efforts. It was literally five owls/hours later that I got it right.

I must say I had fun doing all these. In total I carved 11 pieces, four on the totem pole. Amazing where the burst of energy (and creativity) came from! Next step would be to stain them to look more complete. 

 

My little zoo

  

The first two: The Yoda and the penguin wannabes

  

Saturday’s troop looking more like owls

  

The last two. Gave ‘Elvis’ a tad of front hair. Heheh…

 

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My New Tools!

15 Jul

I couldn’t wait for the weekend and left the office early yesterday to go back to the art store and bought the carving set, along with more balsa wood.

Debating between the cheap Made in China set and the expensive Sakura brand, I opted for the Japanese set which cost five times more but I think it’s a good investment. Last night, the carving has begun!

I think when the weekend is over, I should have a brood of owls and other animals done up. So exciting!

  

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