Congratulations to all the winners!!

Just a reminder all mailings are being withheld until the end of the project. Wondering were you're creature is... safe and waiting to go out with the hoard at the end :) Remember you can win up to 3 creatures by the end.

Creature adoptions are on a first come first serve basis and do work into your total limit of 3 creatures. Thank you for helping me find these a home.

Day 159 is available for adoption

Day 174 winner Patrick

So I worked with air dry clay and some sparkly Sculpy for the final creatures. Sculpy requires baking and that always made me nervous. I was willing to consider it when I found myself running up to the deadline of both this project and a custom munny I'd promised for a trade on the illustratedatcs.com website. I started working on the munny one night and completed the clay creatures you see here. The air dry clay is heavy and takes a few days to dry fully especially in the thicker areas. I've had problems with other works cracking before. There was also an area on the munny that I could see a small crack developing that would need to be filled. Frustrated and needing to finish my projects, I picked up a pack of creme sparkly sculpy that I've probably had since my first husband (if you know me you know that's a long time.) If not then it's long enough for that knowledge to be lost to everyone but God. I wasn't entirely sure the clay would still work.

After talking to some of the other artists on illustrated atc's I heard you could boil the clay when it was on a blank vinyl piece so one wouldn't have to worry about it melting in the oven. I got to work and used up the little pack of Sculpy making the creations you see here and two munny modifications. I used one of those mods to make the custom piece for trade. If you would like to see how it turned out visit my facebook page.

So I present to you the final creatures of The Creature Card Creation project. A one year goal that took me two but that I still finished!!!! WOO HOOO. Better late than never :) I've learned a lot and grown more comfortable with my art. I understand the difficulties I'll be dealing with to work around my disabilities, but I have a good support network that encourages me along the way. I've made wonderful new connections and I'm so happy that a little part of me gets to go live with them. I hope you have enjoyed this ride with me.

We still have some winners coming up soon and adoptions to post. Make sure to get you're three creatures in while there is time left. Good luck and thank you all for participating!

If you would like to see more views of some of these creations let me know. I really wanted to get this out on time and the pictures were wearing on me.

Day 175 - 182 creature drawings are open to anyone who hasn't yet won a total of three creatures since the start of May. The deadline to enter is 12 am pst, July 7th. Don't forget the last day IS Day 182. Adoptions opportunities will be posted soon.

These are the last creatures winnable in this project.

Day 175 is made from air dry clay. After the clay dried I painted it with acrylic paints. At the end the piece was glazed. Originally I was going to make the beak area hair but Ashley suggested making this into a toucan like bird, sort of a tiny melted toucan.

Day 176 is made from air dry clay. After the clay dried I painted it with acrylic paints. At the end the piece was glazed. Originally this creature was coming out of a small terracotta planter but   liked it better out once it was finished. You could decorate a mini planter and put this inside if you like :)

Day 177 is made from air dry clay. After the clay dried I painted it with acrylic paints. At the end the piece was glazed. The shell on this creature is a real shell that I've had for some time and can't remember, honestly, where I got it from. I tried to mimic the colors.

Day 178 is made from air dry clay. After the clay dried I painted it with acrylic paints. At the end the piece was glazed. The wooden knot this creature is sitting on is real. I've had it for some time and always loved the shape of it. The creature is not currently attached for shipping purposes but can be attached or not at the winners discretion.

Day 179 is made from a sparkly Sculpy clay that requires baking. The clay has a great color and look in person so I've decided not to paint many of these pieces. The winner will get to experience the subtle egg shell tone and sparkle these creatures contain.

This is my little mini full figured creature. Sculpy is much better at holding small forms with some strength. I really have fallen in love with baking clay. Since it's basically a rubber plastic it's better about not breaking and having a little bend. They are considerably lighter than the air dry creatures. (I wouldn't suggest forcing the pieces but they are going to ship better)

I tried a wash of acrylic paint on the Sculpy to see how it would look. This is hard to see in the photograph without the gloss and sparkly effects. The ink was added to the eyes and a clear glaze applied. Then a spray glaze on the top after the paint. I think I could have baked the bail into the clay but didn't think of it at the time. This piece was inspired by some recent glass creature pendants I bought on etsy from my new friend Josh :) His are way better lol.

This is the final creature of the project. YAY! Day 182 is also made from the sparkly Sculpy clay. It has a great creme and subtle variation I enjoyed and wanted to retain that purity. This would look fabulous in a shadow box. From the side it reminds me of a dagger. There are great subtleties in the face that don't play in the photo, but if you know art you know the photo can't tell everything... so why not win it and know the truth!

Well the adoptions are going great! I did want to mention, before I forget, that I am holding of on the majority of mailings until the end of the project (approx the week in July). I will try to package up the winners who have reached their maximum prior to the mass exodus but want to try to combine shipping wherever possible where other winners are concerned. Thanks for your patience and participation! I'm getting so close to being done I can almost taste it.

Day 159 - 174 creature drawings are open to anyone who hasn't yet won a total of three creatures since the start of May. The deadline to enter is 12 am pst, June 28th. Don't forget the last card will be Day 182.

I signed the back of this card. I really wasn't sure which direction was up and thought I'd rather not have to decide.

Kaleb decided he wanted to paint too. There were a couple of acrylic splotches he made that I wanted to work this. This would be one of them. I believe there is a lovely large green painting on the back of this card from Kaleb too :)

This is the other Kaleb painted Splotch Creation. The acrylic is a little trickier to get him to work with. There is a particular side of the card that is better suited for the paint. Try telling that to a three year old.

I found this while I was looking for something. I had started him a while back and was not happy. I didn't have a white pen that worked well enough at the time. When working on such a small scale as this, I feel paint to be too cumbersome to use. I was able to bring the eye back out, fill in the background and finish up the details. This would have been one of the original gouache squares possibly even from the first half of the creature card project.

This pendant uses an experimental coating for domino pendants. I would love to hear how it handles the wear of everyday life. I have been noticing the other glaze has a yellowing effect, for better or worse. I would like to find a coating that lasts in the best way possible. So far it looks wonderful.

Second Chance Details: For the best outcome Second Chance's are now like adoptions. If you would like to adopt the creature that is still available they are on a first come first serve basis within a three day period from the posting of this blog. If you would like to know who is still available at the end of the three days and choose one from that selection just contact me and we can work together to find a good home for the creatures. 

Only Creatures listed as Second Chance can be adopted. Creature adoptions still count into each winners limit of three creatures since May, so choose wisely and thanks for your support!

Day 144 adopted by Erin

Well I was to this point in the blog post when I feel asleep on the couch sitting up last night, so I'm posting this before something happens and it doesn't go up for another day. I'll do my best to answer any questions you have about any piece I don't discuss well.

Yes, Creatures 141 and on are using Acrylic paint. These are the first creatures to include Acrylic paint to date. Black boarders are for photographic representation only and are not part of the artwork itself.

*Day 148 is a large banner taller than my son. I have to measure it and post the results. Every year there is project at Nye Beach here in Newport Oregon for local artists to decorate banners that are subsequently hung around nye beach from approximately June to November. In November the banners will be auctioned off and the proceeds will go to support arts in the community. Since the creature has already been donated to the project you can't win the actual banner (unless you want to talk to me about bidding on it at the auction); however, if you want to join with me in this donation I will dedicate the piece to you (or anyone you choose) and you will receive a program from the project in November that includes images of all the banners made and your dedication. If no one enters on this piece I'll just leave the dedication out. I believe the goal of the Nye Beach Banner project is very similar to my Creature Card goals, in supporting viewing and ownership of art as well as funding classes to help those interested in the creative process.

Join me on Facebook where you can see these creatures a bit bigger :) 

Day 135 - 148 creature drawings are open to anyone who hasn't yet won a total of three creatures since the start of May. The deadline to enter is 12 am pst, June 9th. Don't forget the last card will be Day 182.

Congratulations to all the winners. Thank you for entering and for all your kind words and comments you send. Winners are warmly encouraged, but not required, to collaborate with the artist by giving their creatures a name and possibly a story. 

For the creatures that did not receive any entries you have a second chance to get them. Second chance creature drawings are open to anyone who hasn't yet won a total of three creatures since the start of May. The deadline to enter is 12 am pst, May 31st. Don't forget the last card will be Day 182.

Day 126 winner Erin ( from 8 entries)

I had this card as shown at the last creature postings but felt  the background and possibly a neck needed to be finished in some way. After talking to my mom she suggested that it was finished. What do you think?

I'm trying to finish off all the usable splotch cards Kaleb made last fall for this project. These three came from the save 5 x 7 cut into 4 parts. I just found the last piece so I'll work on that next. Unfortunately it won't come until later and I didn't create these planning for them to be shown together. If you put the puzzle together the underlying paint connects, but that's it.

The white ink is wonderful, but it is hard to draw on top of it. Sorta like drawing on white out. It works wonderfully as an after thought. Perhaps I could have painted on her face, but it was a learning experience and I liked her sans expression. I think she is contemplating getting a manicure :)

It has been requested, since things have shifted during the project, that creatures who receive no entries be given 3 extra days on this site for people to enter. It's not visibly available for you to know how many entries each drawing is getting. Perhaps your looking for something with a little more guarantee and these creatures will be nearly begging for a home, or maybe you think you have received many creatures and hadn't entered to give others the chance. I will post winners and second chance 3 day drawings tomorrow!

I will make a number of creature domino pendants soon. They will, most likely, be the last creature jewelry for the project. Just so you know :)

Day 130 - 134 creature drawings are open to anyone who hasn't yet won a total of three creatures since the start of May. The deadline to enter is 12 am pst, May 30th. Don't forget the last card will be Day 182.

While communicating with my online artist trading group I was introduced to a new fabulous white pen, the Uniball Signo. These six cards represent my experimentation and incorporation of the new ink into my creatures. I love my new pen!

Day 124 - 129 creature drawings are open to anyone who hasn't yet won three creatures since the start of May. The deadline to enter is 12 am pst, May 22nd.