Rusty Iron Gum Branch Box

Rusty Iron Gum Branch Box
One of my rope handle scrap timber boxes ... hand painted with acrylic paints to look like part of a galvanized iron fence. Other details are gumnuts and gum leaves, red back spider and a lizzard.

Pansy Folk Art Plate

Pansy Folk Art Plate
Another one of my plaster cast plates. Hand painted folk art style with acrylic paints. The background is a very dark green. The plate is about 18 inches in diameter and was cast in a plastic plant pot saucer.

Cute Little Crab

Cute Little Crab
Pastelle drawing on paper. This is one of the many different types of crabs that you find on Christmas Island. I took a photo of him and then did the drawing from that.

Cottage by the Lake

Cottage by the Lake
The inspiration for this painting came from a magazine photo that showed only the reflections in the water. I used those reflections to re-create the cottage and then used my imagination to finish the painting. When I did this painting I was living in Apopka, Florida. When I left Apopka to come to Perth, Australia I had it framed and gave it as a gift to my good friend Lowell Trent who lives in a log cabin in Apopka .

My Imaginary Moon Scape

My Imaginary Moon Scape
I did this painting around the time that the Astronauts first landed on the moon. Just something to do to keep me out of trouble.

Charcoal sketch - Freedom

Charcoal sketch - Freedom
This was an excercise in creating a drawing with a theme. Butterflies have always represented freedom to me. They always look so happy and free especially when flying around like in a dance. The idea behind this painting is about a prisoner who escapes with the key to his ball and chain .. unlocks and frees himself with the symbolic butterfly landing on the chains, but of course, the butterfly cannot be chained. Well! That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

Little round picnic plate molded plaque.

Little round picnic plate molded plaque.
This is one of my picnic plate moulded craft plates. I have made literally hundreds of these to sell at craft market. There wer sometimes hand painted and sometime decorated with decoupage. You can find instructions on how to make the little plates here:
Picnic Plate Crafts on Squidoo
The basic design for this particular plate, plus many more that I made in a similar fashion started by folding a piece of paper into quartes and sometims eights, the cutting random pattern from the paper to make a stencil. I then sponged the stencil design on to the plate which was pre painted with the background colour. I then used the sponged areas as the base for my design and added brush strokes, outlines, and bit by bit, more and more detail.

Hand cast plate with folk art roses.

Hand cast plate with folk art roses.
Another hand cast and hand painted plate. The background is again dark green to match my decor. Cast using the same method as Fossil branch hand cast plate. but this time with no branched or cracks embeded into the mold before pouring the plaster ... just plain and simple. Hand painted folk art style roses decoration. This plate is hanging in my lounge room at the present time.

Porthole plate with fish

Porthole plate with fish
The mold for this plate was constructed using timber and MDF. It started with a simple circle of wood. Then I added some more onate pieces that I cut out with a scroll saw and placed them around the edge of the plate. I then added the lump bumps with glue. Sanded and sealed the whold thing. Then I made a latex rubber mould from that.

Hand painted by myself ... it is supposed to represent the look of a porthole.

Hand cast plate with artifact cracks.

Hand cast plate with artifact cracks.
This plate was made using the same method as the one in the previous post. Fossil branch hand cast plate. , but this time, instead of using branches, I used plastecine to form the negative impressions of the cracks befor pouring the plaster mixture. I migh mention, that I do not use pure plaste of paris, but mid it in with som paper pulp. The same kind of pulp you would use to make handmade paper.
After painting the plate with a faux antique bronze finish, I added some gold gilding to parts of the cracks to give a more rich effect.

Fossil branch hand cast plate.

Fossil branch hand cast plate.
This is not two different plates, but the same plate painted, then re-painted in a different colour. It has actually changed colours again since I took these photos. It is what I like to call a ... Fossil Cast Plate. It was cas in a mold made from a piece of backing board, some nails to mark out the circle. A piece of scrap formica place inside the nails to form a circle, and an upturned plastic platter of some sort (it's been a long time ... I can't remember what I actually used.
The branches that formed the "fossils" came from a lemon tree, and the fruit looking parts of the design were slices of green lemon.

Gold hibiscus fossil cast plate

Gold hibiscus fossil cast plate
Another one of my hand cast plaster plates. This one is almost two feet in diameter. It cast over a branch from a hibiscus bush. The impression was then gilded with gold leaf. The inside edges of the plate "bowl" were hand painted with very find liner brush. The background colour of the plate is my favourite colour, dark green.

Hand cast and hand painted daisy plate.

Hand cast and hand painted daisy plate.
This is first ever folk art project I ever did entirely on my own. The plate was hand made with plaster and is nearly two foot across. The background is a very dark green, the daisies are white with yellow centres.