"Would you like to Swing on a star
Carry MoonBeams Home in a jar
And be better off than you are
Or would you rather be a mule...."


I had this idea hit me while watching a movie, (Hudson Hawk), when I heard one of my favorite songs from when I was small being sung by Bruce Willis.
Well, I hurriedly drew out the plans for it.
I am not even sure what this art form is called, all I know is I am having fun putting it together.
Below are the steps I have taken during the process. July 2003

Week One
 


Stage ONE-- The Support-- Doesn't look like much yet lol . I needed something subtle yet have a presence too. I decided on a kind of northern lights effect with pearlescent swirls and stars. It doesn't show, but there is a heck of a lot of texture on that canvas. I chose canvas board to support all that I plan on doing to this. I am pretty happy with this, but I have no idea how I will feel tomorrow, I have already changed it 4 times lol.

Stage Two -- Figuring out what the "primary characters" to this "whatever it is "  will be.

So far this all I have, but as you can see the pieces are definitely letting themselves known to me bit by bit.
I ran to the Post Office today hoping the supplies I ordered had arrived from DickBlick in order for me to move ahead on this. BTW DickBlick.com is fantastic and DO ship fast, I am just a bit impatient lol. I have been dealing with them since 1989 and have never had a problem.


Week Two
Well here we are mid-August lol. This is what I work on when I need a break on my dolls. My order finally came in, which was pretty fast, but I needed to get other things done for customer orders. I have been sick ( nasty cold) so this sure is fun when I do have the few Fully awake moments.

 

STAGE ONE -Revisited -- (in SIX!! lol )--- As you will see I changed the background YET AGAIN lol. This one I am happy with, it's a keeper. All I need to do to it now, is NOT try to add more to it lol and clean up the edges of the stars and edging.
 I feel It's brighter and a more whimsical feel to it, in keeping with most my artwork. Yep, it NOW has a lot more texture to it, the background was changed twice since I posted the first pictures of it. The stars have a lot of texture too, sheesh, I hope when I get ready to list this I can capture the textures and colors a bit better than this.
 
 

STAGE 3 -- Ahh  Finally, she is coming to llife with some color. I keep her near the painting to make sure I don't clash any colors. I decided to yank off her other arms, I live on the Maine coast, and I just KNOW  it influenced me with her other arms, because I swear they looked like lobstah claws!! Her new arms are laying beside her waiting to be stuffed...painted..and added to her. I have a feeling I am going to regret never making a pattern for any of these parts lol.

STAGE 4 -- Sculpting the MOON. That went rather fast once my supplies arrived, the longest part was waiting for the clay to dry in this humidity. I am used to oven bake clays, not air-dry ones. Though I have used this clay a lot, I never used it to do anything other than a doll sculpture. I think I will have fun experimenting with this on other things. Now all I have to do to it is texture it and paint it and figure out how to mount it. THAT's RIGHT, after all this I still have no idea how I am going to pull it all together and mount it on the painting!! lol DuHhh. Any ideas are welcomed lol.


Here is a photo of one of my workspaces. This area is usually used just for sewing and some light painting of my dolls. But with the weather the way it has been this area is the coolest until noon, then I move back to the other area, which is half my bedroom or the other half of the kitchen . I love those windows, they wrap around most of my kitchen walls. HMmm that painting doesn't look so big like this. It is on a 16x20 canvas board. Then again it's huge to me because I have had my faced glued to it so much lately. I had it on it's easel near my bed, so every morning when I woke up and before I went to bed I would see it, I knew I didn't like it, but I didn't know why, until one morning I realized it was the colors.


Week Three
It is NOW October 3, 2003 !!! lol

As you can obviously see a lot of time has lapsed, though I have been working on it, just not getting too many images. The main part I was working on is the girl in the moon. My other major hold up is I have been gathering the items I want to add to this "whatever " it is. I still have no idea of the style of art is is, or IF it is even a style lol Right now I have been searching everywhere for a mini round glass jar for it.
 Oh and here's no surprise to anyone who knows me well, enough, I still have NO idea how I am going to mount it all together!! lol.
 Here are pictures of the girl in the moon , she still needs more work, but this is basically what she will look like.

 


Week FOUR (why am I bothering even counting anymore lol)
Let's see if I can get some of it done before November lol
To answer the above statement - "NOPE"  *:O)

March 11, 2004 , that's right, you read that right,  2004 lol
SHE IS FINISHED!!! YiPppEeee !! *tossing confetti*

As you can obviously see this is the LONGEST project on record lol. I lost the use of my camera for awhile, so there was no way to capture this with each step along the way. The good news is I have a new camera, AND It is done, and as soon as I can figure out what kind of art to call this I will be listing it.
   Before I mounted the moon and doll onto the canvas I did some decorative lettering around the black edges in purple pearlescent paints, "Would you like to swing on a star, carry moonbeams home in a jar."

   I DID finally find a "jar" for the "moonbeams" in December. I then used pink glass beads and glass silver bugle beads to attach the "jar" the doll.  I added glow in the dark ultra fine "moondust" glitter to the "jar". I also added a beaded adornment to her hat.

  I figured to procrastinate more I decided to decoupage the back with a very pretty paper I found that has gold stars on it.

  Then came the dreaded, time to FINALLY figure out HOW the heck to mount her and the moon to the canvas. Yep, you guessed it, all the elements were ready and I still didn't have a clue. So this went on hold for another two months. It wasn't until I was assembling a piece of jewelry that I realized, "Oh DUhhhhhh, the same glue I use to hold metal together certainly would be able to hold this to the canvas". Once she was mounted and varnished, I stood back, and took a deep breath of relief. You know that feeling? When you have something you worked so long on and finally to see it matured into a wonderful piece of art that had only started as part of an imagination. I know of nothing else that can bring that kind of  feeling of inner satisfaction or joy. *:O)

  Here it is March 11th, and I can officially say she is finished.

      I hope you enjoyed watching this in progress as I worked on it. I certainly enjoyed working on her. I found it real hard not  to keep adding to her, I don't think i wanted the "finish" to come. This project was a fantastic break from my daily routines, I guess it's time to start another project. *:O)

 *leaving the page while whistling, "would you like to swing on a star, carry moonbeams home in a jar, lalalaaaaaaaaaaaaa" *

  Here are the lyrics in it's entirety :

SWINGING ON A STAR

(Johnny Burke and Jimmy Van Heusen)
 

Would you like to swing on a star
Carry moonbeams home in a jar
And be better off than you are
Or would you rather be a mule?

A mule is an animal with long funny ears
Kicks up at anything he hears
His back is brawny but his brain is weak
He's just plain stupid with a stubborn streak
And by the way, if you hate to go to school
You may grow up to be a mule

Or would you like to swing on a star
Carry moonbeams home in a jar
And be better off than you are
Or would you rather be a pig

A pig is an animal with dirt on his face
His shoes are a terrible disgrace
He has no manners when he eats his food
He's fat and lazy and extremely rude
But if you don't care a feather or a fig
You may grow up to be a pig

Or would you like to swing on a star
Carry moonbeams home in a jar
And be better off than you are
Or would you rather be a fish?

A fish won't do anything but swim in a brook
He can't write his name or read a book
To fool the people is his only thought
And though he's slippery, he still gets caught
But then if that sort of life is what you wish
You may grow up to be a fish

A new kind of jumped-up slippery fish

And all the monkeys aren't in the zoo
Every day you meet quite a few
So you see it's all up to you
You can be better than you are
You could be swingin' on a star.

**** SOLD ***

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