Birds of the Pacific - TC Art Swap!!!! Its on again!

thank you... i do see a couple of areas I need to add a little more detailing, but you know how it can be when you over analyzing a piece.

Glad you like it.

Hope it pleases the swap-ee??

:tiki: ALoooHA All! :tiki:

Those who know me best, realize I'm over my head with a myriad of home renovations, work tasks & travel assignments... BUT I must have a creative release to battle stress too! :P Sooo to satisfy my "natural urges" I've decided to fly into aviary paradiso like a dodo...

Everyone that participates is a winner and a lot of fun to be had by all!! :D In the spirit of swaps past, it's all about the tease...followed by many others...and a BIG reveal. Well, this time around, peeps are sharing their concept scratchings... sooo that is what I will do too!

Now what will be most challenging is to nurture this idea, give it wings and see if it will fly?!! :D

Thanks for the kudos, Wendy!

After a few minor touch-ups, I officially deemed the painting complete! Not bad for my first Tiki Central artistic submission. I admire all of the artists on here, and find myself admiring mo

Yes, I finished this way early; however, I have quite a busy summer planned with company summer events, trips to see the grandchild and business trips, so I thought I would get a head start.

I'm looking forward to seeing more swap entries! Everything is so awesome! I would be proud to own any single one of them!

Aloha, all...and enjoy.

Nice job Melekimikimaka! Nothing wrong with getting your swap piece done before summer passes!

Very nice Mele! Did you add some background color after the first pic?

Jones, I know you are all about the "tease" and the "big reveal". I saw the tease for the headhunter swap but I hadn't seen the big reveal until a few days ago - way cool!

Thanks! As for the background color... I think it was a bit wet the first pic, but the actual color is a dark green...then I sprayed it with Matte finish.

The last minute touch ups were the pure cobalt blue, orange and a few highlights.

It's displayed in my livingroom until shipment time!!

So I started this about 2 weeks ago, but the clay is being fired tonight. They will be attatched to the piece. I realized after I created it that the toucan isn't really a Pacific island bird, so I may not end up sending this piece in for the trade. I guess it depends on how it turns out! Anyway, here's some pictures.

Nice start PennJones. Is that a skateboard deck? :)

EDIT - If you want, change the beak & lengthen the tail and you've got a hornbill

[ Edited by: MadDogMike 2010-07-07 08:42 ]

Great stuff so far, 4 pages, WOW.

I have a concept but haven't started yet.

@pennjones,
TOUCAN add it to the swap as far as I'm concerned :D

@Tiki Bai, that mug is pure win.

@Mele,
Very nice painting, Pretty realistic for an abstract painter :wink:

[ Edited by: Badd Tiki 2010-07-07 08:34 ]

I'm feeling like a slacker. Oh wait we have 2 MONTHS to go. There is some really cool stuff so far!! I think I have a plan, now all I have to is pick a piece of wood. Sketched in my head but not on paper - sorry.

GO TOM!!!

:lol: OK folks, I have my first bird-themed offering. I can't image it will be the most popular item but who knows, maybe my Swap partner will say "That's exactly what I've been looking for!"

A Papua New Guinea Warrior Back Ornament with a hornbill skull and wild boar tusks! :lol:
(EDIT - I wrapped some colored thread around the tusks for a little color. new picture posted :) )

Made of polymer clay, inspired by this piece found at the Bower;s Museum in Santa Ana CA.

From the museum display card: "Huli people, Southern Highlands Province. The hornbill is a very important species to people of the Highlands that is hunted for it's feathers as well as their stunningly beautiful beaks. Worn of the backs of warriors, the combination of the beak, boar's tusks and fiber necklace makes this men's jewelry piece particularly breathtaking when seen on the men as they come together as a group of often a hundred at a time to perforn the drum dance"

I decided to do the whole skull to add a bit of added drama. Look for this to show up on MadDog's TC Christmas card :D

[ Edited by: MadDogMike 2010-07-07 16:22 ]

Love it, MDM! Hope I win it.

Everyone's pieces/teases look wonderful! It would be great to swap for any of them!

not ANOTHER MDM Christmas card!
Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

Oh yes, bigger, badder, and bolder than before! :)

oh dear....

Well, here's a possible idea for my swap item - it would be a beaded necklace centerpiece. The white background would not be there. Lots of cleaning up to do with color and edges. DON'T HOLD ME TO IT THOUGH! It's been a long time since I did a beaded piece that wasn't a straight-edged tapestry!

MadDogMike, I like that necklace it sure look real, love it being the whole head, cool.

BeadTiki, I really like that bird too with great shading. I hope you do it.

Wendy

Seeing everyones art on here has really inspired me to do something. I decided to take some bristol paper out, a pencil and start doodling things that were coming out of my head inspired by all of you. here's the beginning a piece of art, most likely going to be some sort of pen and ink drawing.

So I guess people can count me in on this swap!

Great start lilusako, welcome aboard

Well, we made it through the first firing...its all down hill from here :)

Bravo, Babalu!

I've done nothing, aside from choosing my birds. Waiting for inspiration to strike...and some free time :)

:) - there is plenty of time yet...

I'm finding it very interesting that everyone that has jumped in so far seems to be approaching the bird topic with a more realist approach...what I mean is, no one seems to be really referencing any pacific island people's bird imagery yet? I thought I was going to be the only one to color outside of the TC lines a little bit :)

weirdly enough, I'm a little ahead of the game on this project...if I have enough time, I'll try to work on something a little more thematic to bird artworks from South Pacific, and let whomever pulls my name choose between the two thingys.

examples :up: - there is tons of stuff to work with out there...

I hear you loud and clear brother Babs...I'm gonna color outside the TC lines as well...its just I haven't figured out what lines and what colors - yet!

Thanks for the little inspiration in your last post. Hmmm. G

As we speak, I am working on a little more symbolic representation in a Solomon Islands Hornbill Feast Bowl. Gonna see how many Hornbill-themed pieces I can make in 2 months :D

MDM - Okay, that's wicked!

Hornbill #2 in progress

Plan to add a pedestal/legs, we'll see how that goes :lol:

^ that looks awesome Mike! I'm almost done with my Mermaid, after that I will work on my swap piece!

On 2010-07-10 21:26, MadDogMike wrote:
Hornbill #2 in progress

Plan to add a pedestal/legs, we'll see how that goes :lol:

Very nice start on this one Mike. :)

This is shaping up to be the best swap yet. I'm still waiting for my book of pacific island birds "with photos" to arrive. Wendy

Mike, your hornbill carving reminded me of this:

It's a loon bowl my dad carved back in '99 based on a Northwest Native design. I guess it could be considered a bird from the Pacific though!

Looking forward to seeing how you decorate yours!

Jeez I just realized it's time to dust again! LOL

That's interesting. MadDogMike and your dad are both talented. Wendy

[ Edited by: danlovestikis 2010-07-13 19:45 ]

Well, here goes....step 1:

Well, here's a sneak peak at my piece so far. I don't know if I'm adding it to the swap yet, as a toucan isn't really a bird of the pacific, but then again, this isn't your ordinary toucan. So I don't know. Let me know what you think so far! Aloha! -Brad

HORNBILL FACT - Did you know that hornbill beaks were highly treasured by emperors in ancient China where they carved like ivory?

I needed a base big enough to support the weight of the ceramic bowl so I used a cone similar to what I have seen on other Salomon Island feast bowls. Then a black and white geometric pattern glaze. I'm hoping to use mother of pearl luster to achieve the look of shell inlay

Thank you all for your kind comments - these Swaps are so much fun :)

Bead, I have been accused of being crazy as a loon!

Pennjones, great looking Toucan. At the risk of offending the "anti-Caribbean crowd" I say keep it in the Swap. I did look up the Toucan range and they don't even make it to the Pacific coast of South America, let alone to Oceania. But there is a Toucan in the Disneyland Tiki Room and I'm sure that ceramic or papier-mâché Toucans can be found hanging in the rafters of many respectable tiki bars.

HORNBILL FACTS - Did you know that the hornbill's long eyelashes are actually modified feathers?

In my excitement to make my hornbill bowl I forgot to take into consideration the size of my kiln - it won't fit! :o
HELP BABALU!!! :lol:

On 2010-07-12 21:18, MadDogMike wrote:
HORNBILL FACTS - Did you know that the hornbill's long eyelashes are actually modified feathers?

In my excitement to make my hornbill bowl I forgot to take into consideration the size of my kiln - it won't fit! :o
HELP BABALU!!! :lol:

Is that like your eyes being bigger than your stomach?! Ooops!

On 2010-07-12 21:18, MadDogMike wrote:
HORNBILL FACTS - Did you know that the hornbill's long eyelashes are actually modified feathers?

In my excitement to make my hornbill bowl I forgot to take into consideration the size of my kiln - it won't fit! :o
HELP BABALU!!! :lol:

Sure Mike, bring him on over. :-)

Wow...everything looks so awesome! While in Oklahoma, I went to the OK zoo and they had a lorikeet cage! I have a great picture of my granddaughter right next to one!

Can't wait until September!

[ Edited by: Melekalikimaka 2010-07-13 16:41 ]

Honeycreeper in progress. Decided on a bunch of changes...

Is that the one that started out all orange? Painting just makes no sense to me! :lol: Cool looking Honeycreeper Zerostreet!

Wow! I wish I could paint (other than Paint by Number, which I'm REALLY good at!). Looks great Zerostreet!

Wow! I wish I could paint (other than Paint by Number, which I'm REALLY good at!). Looks great Zerostreet!

On 2010-07-13 21:48, MadDogMike wrote:
Is that the one that started out all orange? Painting just makes no sense to me! :lol: Cool looking Honeycreeper Zerostreet!

Thanks MDM and BeadTiki!

Yes MDM it was all orange at one point. I started painting and wasn't happy. So I researched other colors of creepers and saw the olive green one. Liked that better so I changed my palette and restared.

got some work done tonite....quite a bit to go!

Looking great. I'd feel honored to win this!

HORNBILL FACTS - Did you know that male and female hornbills of the same species often have different colored faces and eyes?

Looks great ZeroStreet. No more orange! :D

Well, I looked Stupidity in the eye and I made him blink! In spite of my size oversight, I was able to bisque fire Hornbill #2 in my kiln by sitting him inside all catywhampus and touching the sides of the kiln. That won't work for the glaze firing so I'll still have to take him up to Babalu. I put on some black underglaze in the traditional Solomon Island geometric patterns, now to do some glaze testing and see if I can duplicate the look of inlayed shell. I have some clear iridescent mother-of-pearl that looks really good on pink but has been thus far unimpressive on white. The pencil marks will burn off in the kiln. Coincidentally, the bowl is about the same size as a football :lol: It would be good for holding lemons and limes on your tiki bar.

That's so terrific MadDogMike. I'm still thinking, clay or a painting? Wendy