More Otis...

I seem to spend most of my time these days either making or painting bears, mainly Otis.  This is my current commission and although I have painted Otis more times than I can count, I am still enjoying this one immensely.  It's good to be painting after the 2 month enforced break, I don't care what the subject matter is!  Just as well, as I have three more commissions, all Otis...

I've also been sewing some more Otis stuffies - they don't hang around for long and I am only sorry that I cannot be any faster making them.  They are a little labour intensive when it comes to cutting out the fabric and pinning/sewing it all together.  Two more in the pipeline - when I get time to use the sewing machine!
 

Bears, Boxes & Eagles...

I have been painting, honest!  Here are the lids to a couple of trinket boxes that have been commissioned.  The first is, of course, Otis in his favourite fishing spot.

I have painted so many Otis boxes with the same picture on them that it made a refreshing change to be asked to paint a different bear.  This is Popeye, a magnificent boar who also lives at Brooks Falls, Katmai National Park.  

Both paintings look a little faded here - photo taken in the earlymorning light and they also need varnishing which brings out the colour.  I have one more to paint - Otis again, but in a slightly different pose.

As it has been really hot here this week, I can't bring myself to knit or crochet the current WIP's I have on the go as it would be the equivalent of sitting under a blanket, so I crocheted a little eagle just for fun.
 

It's Hot Out There...

As Mr.B has almost recovered from his knee replacement surgery, I am starting to get my time back as I no longer have to be on hand as much.  So I have started sewing Otis stuffies again.  These two are already spoken for.

As is this one.  I am also painting a trinket box, part of a commission for three of them, and have a line up of four painting commissions waiting in the wings.  So it is all go once more!

Meanwhile inthe garden, everything is growing well but I am especially happy that I have managed to get a couple of chicory plants to flower.  Last year they were just leaves on plants that I grew from seed and did not flower.  This year they are over 6 ft tall and I just love the delicate pale blue flowers that only last for a day before being replaced with more.

 

The greenhouse appears to have been overly successful - looks like I will need a machete to get near anything!  In there are three large tomato plants, two long cucumber vines, a smaller tomato plant and somewhere at the back, a melon plant.

I have been picking runner beans, raspberries, strawberries, blueberries and have a lot of cherry tomatoes just waiting to turn red.  Hopefully everything will survive the next few days of very hot weather.

Getting Back In The Swing Of Things...

This weekend I actually had the urge to sew something again after a month or so of complete ennui (translation: stress + exhaustion!)  I've had the idea of making a soft toy based on the bear 435 Holly who lives in Katmai National Park, Alaska, and who won the fun Fat Bear contest back in 2019.

She was humungous and was photographed sitting like this and looking like she would explode at any minute!

I have a book of animal patterns but lost it for a long time - let's face it, it was not really lost, just buried in the piles of craft materials in the spare room.  When I had to tidy up in order to sleep in there while my partner is recovering from his knee surgery, I unearthed it.

I also had some nice bobbly fleece fabric, so set to.  First we had to make the pattern larger as using the pattern straight from the book was far too small. 

I hand sewed the whole thing, as if there had been any errors, unpicking a seam from a sewing machine in furry fabric would have been a nightmare.  I've used velvet for the nose, fur fabric for the ears, and felt for the paw pads.  I stuffed the head with kapok to make it firm and sewed a piece of calico behind the stuffing inside to stop it from migrating.  The rest of the bear has been stuffed with polystyrene balls so that she flops fatly just like the real bear.

I was planning on putting this on Etsy but posted it on Facebook beforehand to see if anyone would like to grab it first - it went in one minute flat!  That has to be an all time record!

While I have been playing nurse with my two patients over the past month, I have been able to get out in the garden and it is looking rather pretty at the moment.

I re-did the succulent display using an old bonsai dish.

Before Mr.B had his op, we spent the previous weekend building my new greenhouse on the patio.  I say 'we' - Mr.B did 99% of the work, I just stood around getting in the way and handing him tools!  I am so pleased with how the patio re-vamp has turned out - now it is a very inviting place to go and sit...when the noise from certain neighbours and their dogs doesn't intrude!

The birds and insects are loving it all - we have had a family of great tits nesting in a box on the patio and they fledged successfully last week.

Only three chicks, but they all made it, no cats or magpies got them this time round.

I'm going for flowers rather than vegetables this year - last summer was so abysmal I'm taking no chances.  Still got some runner beans in though, and the new greenhouse has plenty of tomatoes, cucumber and even a melon plant.

So now that everyone in the house is recovering/has recovered, I am slowly getting back to work as the orders trickle in. 
 

A Bit Of A Difficult Month...

 I am sorry there have been no arts and crafts posts this month - it's been a bit of a difficult time.  My partner finally had his long-awaited total knee replacement surgery, so I let work wind down in preparation for having to don my nurse's hat for a few weeks.  All went well with the surgery, but as expected, my partner is in a lot of pain and hobbling about on crutches needing a fair bit of help.

Then five days ago, after spending the past 2 years being meticulously careful with my daughter (who has Downs Syndrome), shielding, keeping her away from crowds and places that might be risky as far as Covid is concerned...she caught Covid.  I don't know where, but I have a sneaking suspicion - one of her daycare placements insists everybody takes an LFT before they go in...the other one doesn't, despite having very vulnerable people attend.  Last week the only places my daughter went to were her daycare placements and one trip to the garden centre where we were masked and avoided contact with anybody.

Thankfully, she seems to only have a mild case (vaccines must be effective) and after three days of high stress and hours on hold on various phone lines, I was able to get hold of the anti-viral tablets that she is entitled to as a person who is classified as clinically extremely vulnerable.  Whilst I am eternally grateful that she is able to access this treatment, I will say that they don't make it easy...

So hopefully they are both on the mend - I have so far (surprisingly!) remained Covid free.  Just as well, as if I get sick the other two might well starve to death...

Peggy...

Just completed this, a private commission.  Black dogs are always tricky - black dogs with fine strands of white hair are even trickier!  I was not sure what medium I was going to do this in, but in the end plumped for watercolour as the main painting with coloured pencil at the end to add the darker spots and put in the wayward hairs.  I think it turned out OK - I don't believe I would have been able to get the detail of the hair using just one of those mediums.

Now we wait and see if the recipient is pleased!

If your would like a portrait of your  pet (or even of your human), do get in touch.
 

Four Labradors...

Thisis a commission I have been procrastinating over for a very long time, replicas of two real dogs as puppies and adults.  It's been a while since I knitted anyone's pet and I felt I  might have lost the touch.

I think these have come out all right though - I had some dog patterns to use as a basis, tweaked them along the way.

Now to run them by the client, see if they pass muster!