Shorts and Shiny Blue

Cobalt blue satin blouse (Do-Be), black cotton cami with sequins (Esprit), grey cotton shorts (Reitman's), black kitten heels (Kenneth Cole Reaction, gift from Cat), triple hoop silver earrings.
L finally did some ironing so I could wear these shorts again. Unfortunately, they are showing the effects of me wearing them all day and now they are all wrinkly. Note to self: buy shorts that don't wrinkle!

I will be out of town for a few days, so no posts, but I will take pictures of my outfits. We are going to see Rush in Vancouver, and are staying to visit friends and do a little shopping. Happy weekend to me!

Finished Painting 2 and "Way In"

This is a mish-mash of the view from our deck. I like the left side...and I like the right side...but I don't like them together. It's just too evenly split down the middle and there's no real focus point. But I'm tired of painting it, so for all intents and purposes, it's done!
There's a bit of flash burn at the top.

I had more fun in my class last night doing a bit of a collage. I found these two images in a Vogue or something like that. The guy on the left is Martin Scorcese; the guy on the right is an "art detective". I forget his name, but I loved his look (he has a big scar on his face).

I pasted them onto cardboard then painted over everything to give it a painted look. It made us all think of a pulp novel cover or an old-fashioned movie poster, so I pasted on the words "way in" to give it a title. It's only about 5 x 7", so it's up on my bulletin board at work.

L Figure - A Roper!

No, not Mrs. Roper (from "Three's Company"), har har, although that would be pretty funny. You could put a muu-muu on it and an orange wig and red lips. Hee.

This is a monster that disguises itself as a stalacmite in an underground setting. Then he gets you with his tentacles and sucks you into his gaping maw! Rar! Scary!
Ahh! Run away!

A great monster fig by L. He really did a great job on nice thin layers to give this guy depth and texture. The only thing I'm not a huge fan of is the eye. I would have done a "deep cave" eye, very white or pale blue with a huge pupil to take in all the light down there.

A shot of the back:
Good tentacles. He's ready for some grabbin'.

Classy Grey Dress

Grey herringbone dress (Le Chateau), blue peep-toe pumps (Winners), rhinestone dangle earrings (gift from Mom, Avon?).
Whenever I have a day when I'm feeling kind of blah, I wear this dress. This is the first time I've worn it without a sweater underneath (I bought it last fall) - I usually do a black or grey turtleneck.

What I love about this dress is the detail. It is a shadow herringbone (you can't see it unless you are up close), it has a pale blue pinstripe, it has a great cut, especially the collar and the high banded waist, and it is fully lined (and even the lining is lovely). Even the length is perfect on me. A close-up of the top/collar:
Isn't that pretty? So classy. Here's a close-up of the lining. You can see the pattern of the fabric too. Love the big black buttons.
And from Le Chateau of all places! It was on a clearance rack for I think about $29.99.

A Little Too Mini

Black and white blouse (consignment), black cami (Inwear), cobalt blue wool blend suit skirt (Le Chateau), black and white shoes (Miss Moo), silver/black bangle, black stone dangle earrings.
I picked up this blouse yesterday at my favourite consignment store - only $6! What a steal. And I love this skirt...but I forgot how short it is. I bought it at Le Chateau back in the fall and I've worn it with tights every time I wore it to work. Today, I'm bare-legged and yeee...it's short when you're sitting down! It's still a great skirt, just something to keep in mind.

It has a very cool jacket that matches (it's a suit!); I bought them at separate times (the skirt was on sale first, for $19.99, then I watched for the jacket until it went to $39.99).

My newish haircut - we are growing it out a bit, so I only had a bit of a trim and shaping. I added blonde highlights yesterday.

Casual Friday - Safari & Red

Wrap jungle print t-shirt (Jacob), red cotton ribbed cami (Plum), jeans (Esprit), red patent platform sandals (Bronx, Winners), gold chain bracelet (Jones New York, The Bay), gold dangly multihoop earrings.
Haircut after work, visit at mom's to see visiting uncle & aunt (hi, Brian and Joan!), then off to have drinks with friends. So this is what I wore yesterday. It was sunny and warm and I just love these those. Unfortunately, they don't love me. One of the hazards of patent leather is that it's hard and sharp against my poor skin. By the time I got home from the hairdresser's, I had a total of 5 bandaids on my ankles.

But damned if they aren't the most awesome looking shoes:
Love them!

Pink and Brown - Very Girly

Pink cardigan (Plum), brown cotton lace-trimmed cami (Esprit), pink and brown embroidered skirt (RW & Co.), brown leather boots (Roberto Vianni), brown leather belt with flower buckle, silver filigree earrings.
When I was younger, I wanted to be Molly Ringwald. "Sixteen Candles", "The Breakfast Club", and of course, "Pretty in Pink". I have often thought that John Hughes should do a sequel to "Pretty in Pink" where Andy comes back to her town (she's a fashion designer in NYC) for her high school reunion. Ducky is there, and the James Spader character and the boring guy, whatsisname, that she falls in love with, and even Annie Potts' character. Is Harry Dean Stanton still alive to play her dad again?

Anyway, I'd go see it. I thought of it on the way to work today, knowing that I was YET AGAIN wearing the much-loathed pink. I do adore this skirt, though - it's so pouffy and I love the gauzy over-skirt and the embroidery and the ribbon on the side. It is pretty big on me (another one of my mid-point purchases), so I have to wear it really low on my hips. The cardigan is okay - the sleeves never stay up at my elbows the way I want them to.

Coloured my hair last night in preparation for tomorrow's hair cut.

Sheila Figs - Finished Bard Girl with Crow

Bard Girl with Crow:

Here she is, all sanded and primered. I like to get the skin on right away. This is one of the few chick figures I have that doesn't have humongous boobs; they're pretty rare.

My least favourite stage: blocking in the colours. Blah.
Chose her hair colour, brushed over the chainmail at her midsection and neckline, filled in some of the base with the same colour as her hair.

This is the start of the highlighting. I did her pants a couple of shades darker than her top, but used the same highlight mixes (about 5-6) on both parts. The mandolin is highlighted and the leather details are painted in and highlighted. Some of the cloak layers have been done. The crow and the boots are done with highlights and the cream undershirt she's wearing is finished.

And finally, here she is! A long session later...finished the cloak's lowlights and added some more highlights, painted the sword, did her skin and face, highlighted the hair, blacklined all the edges and did a brushing and highlighting on the base, followed by a slight black wash (leftover blackline).

My favourite stage is all the fine detail that really makes a piece come alive. I painted her lips and eyes (and the crow's eyes), did her gold jewelry and gold inlays on the mandolin and the gemstones.

A shot of the back. I'm pleased with how the cloak turned out.Next up: a big scary demon!

Sheila Figs - Sea Mage and a Rat on a Treasure Chest

These are a couple of good figures I've done in the last year or so.

Sea Mage:
I'm a sucker for a chick figure and I love the pose on this one - good movement. I had a really clear vision for how I wanted her to look: I picture her on the edge of a cliff with a storm buffeting all around her as she makes a sacrifice to the ocean below.
The lantern was a separate piece - I glued it onto her base once it was painted. I wanted the feathers at her neck to look like cormorant feathers, since it's a sea bird.
Rat on Treasure Chest:
I Googled a picture of Remy from "Ratatouille" and painted this rat like him. This will get displayed with the pirate collection once he leaves the "new figure" display area. We leave our new figs out for people to look at and they get put away as new figures get painted. We have our collection grouped by themes: pirates, vampires, goblins, elves, dragons, skeletons, dwarves, etc. I did a sandy-looking base because L and I would eventually like to make a pirate diorama of them all on a beach with maybe a shipwreck, or being attached by sea creatures (we have a good collection of those too).
The skull on the base has a spider on its head. Shiver me timbers!

Orange & Brown and Another One of Mom's Necklaces

Orange sweater (Vero Moda, The Bay), brown wool-blend suit skirt (Kensie, Dots), lace trim cream cam (Vero Moda, Dots), leopard pumps (Steve Madden, DSW, San Francisco), gold filigree hoop earrings, vintage necklace (Mom's jewelry box).
This was a last-minute switch this morning. I was going to wear a different top with this outfit but couldn't get the waist of it quite right, so I went for this sweater instead. Besides, it was chilly out today. The sweater is super soft, and I love the double V neckline and the button detail. It also has slightly puffed sleeves that gather at the elbow.

The necklace is one I "liberated" from Mom's jewelry box (an old pinkish coloured one with a scene on the top lid). I love the glass beads - that milky white and green is just lovely. A close-up.
The skirt belongs with the jacket I wore here: http://sheilaephemera.blogspot.com/2008/04/brown-and-demin.html. I picked both pieces up at Dots a few months ago for around $60 total.

Tweed and Yellow and Dragon Shoes!

Yellow satin blouse (Do & Be), mustard cami (Inwear), tweed skirt (Kenzie), wood earrings & bracelet, red satin dragon pumps (Aldo).
The reason I look vaguely pissed off: I am annoyed at myself. Yesterday, L and I went out to Goldstream Park and hiked around. We took all kinds of pictures, including some amazing shots of a little yellow spider. Tonight, I uploaded them and then deleted them off the camera...but not all of them uploaded. I lost over half of them. Arg. I am so mad at myself.

I had to change back into this outfit and re-photograph it, too.

Anyway. Love this colour of yellow. These are also awesome shoes. I got them about 5 years ago - they are the first pair of shoes I ever paid full price for: $90.00. They also came in black and pink (same fabric).
I love the dragons on the toes:

Sheila and L Figs - Diaramas

One of the really fun things to do with a big figure or a set of figures is to make a diarama to display them in. A big piece is not as cool just sitting on a base.

This is one of L's figs; it's called "Bridge of Sorrows" (I guess because the unlucky chick that the red dragon has snagged is pretty much dead). This came with all 4 figures (dragon, chick, wizard, centaur fighter), as well as the bridge pieces. This was the first use of "water" (it's plastic beads that you melt and pour to make a water-look surface).
We bought the wooden bases at a craft shop, and the dirt, sand and lichen bush bits at a hobby store. The dragon is all metal, which is very heavy, and caused a lot of problems with assembly. You can see the metal supports that L had to drill into the underside of the dragon so that it doesn't collapse under its own weight.

A close-up of the dragon's head. Great colours. That chick in his claws does not look happy. A shot of the wizard and the centaur fighter on the bridge. A good look at the bushes and water, too.
Vampire Count's Carriage - L Fig

L did this in the last 18 months. This is a Games Workshop boxed figure, of the Count's carriage, coffin, driver, and skeletal horses. L's vision was to have the carriage racing through the woods. He bought a tree kit from the local hobby shop and built all these trees individually. They are plastic with wire in them, which you twist into shape and then glue the bushy stuff onto them. L also gave the trees a light brushing on the trunks to make them look less plastic. Looking back towards the carriage. You can see the driver in the middle - creepy!
Looking down at the detail on the top of the carriage. The roof of the carriage comes off so that you can see the coffin (the coffin is also removeable and it opens to show the Count - sorry, I didn't take pictures of that stuff).
A shot of the back of the carriage. That's the end of the coffin.
"The Protagonists" - Sheila Fig

This is a really old boxed set, one of the first ones I got. I just got around to painting it in the last year, though (it is not a floor polish figure). Unfortunately, I have knocked this over a couple of times - the demon riding the dragon has been re-glued a few times, and I think the pegasus is no longer attached.

This is a really simple example of a diarama, where all I've done is a road, some stones and some grass. I didn't want to distract from the figures, but I wanted them to be on a base together. Sometimes you just want to keep it to a dull roar."Nydgogg, the Wyrm" - Sheila Fig

I am very proud of this figure. This is a limited edition piece - it is meant to stand upright, but like the red dragon in "Bridge of Sorrows", this is solid metal. It's way too heavy to stand without some serious propping/drilling. I came up with the idea of having him crashing through the woods, so I gathered some wood from L's folks' property when we visited them, and used some of that for the wyrm to arch over, like he is climbing over it. This fig started out rust-coloured, then brushed stripes on him and gold "scales" - I also really like the wings - they have a nice semi-transparent look to them.
This entire piece is about 12" long by 9" wide, and 8" tall.
"Cauldron of Blood" - L Fig

This is a pretty amazing diarama. L cast these rocks himself, using sandy moulding material and rubber moulds. He then painted the rocks, added lichen, mushrooms (hobby store), and painted gold veins in the rocks, to make it look like an underground cavern.

These are drow (they are goofy-looking with crazy-ass hair because they are Games Workshop figs and GW can't resist making all their figures look terribly cartoony), with a cauldron of blood for some evil purpose, being drawn along by spiders (an addition of L's).

I like that the spiders are crawling over the rocks. L also researches all animals that he does and paints them like actual species. Awesome!

Sheila Figs - Odds and Ends

I have a serious backlog of pictures to post - I'm going to try to get them up today so that I will only have newer pictures hereon in.

This is a female dwarf fighter that I just fell in love with: I really like how she turned out. I like the skin and the folds of the cloth came out well.
Lots of good detail on her.

I call this the "Inigo pony" - it's a horse-type creature and I matched its markings to my cat, Inigo, right down to his pink nose and toes.

Comparison of Inigo:The shading on this piece is good. The elf girl is kind of weird-looking. Nice fur bikini. How can you tell that men create these figures?
Crazy frog demon:

Another one of the first floor polish pieces I did. I really like the pattern on his skin. I am really pleased with his details; they look just right to me.

A really old piece! I did this one probably close to 10 years ago - it's about 15 cm tall. This is a limited edition figure (1551 of 5000, I think that says). It's a 5-headed dragon (Tahkesis, if you geek out on those sorts of things), and I did the entire thing without any putty, which meant I had to dry-fit all those necks onto the body perfectly and carve them until they fit right. The belly part is hollow so I put a little time-capsule in there; who I was, when I painted it, etc. I guess if this piece breaks next time we move, I can fix it. I like the idea of having that little surpise in there.

This one's recent. Evil fighter with owl helmet. He's an old figure, though - I've had him for about 10 years before he finally hit the painting table.

Not very exciting to paint.

The folds on the cloak are good.

This is one of my favourite dragon figures that I've done. I love the colours on it. This is a fire dragon with rider. I started by painting the entire dragon black and then brushing with dark red, orange, yelow and a bit of white to bring the colours and detail up on it.

Hee, I like the rider's seat.
A close-up of the head:

Scary!