progress in progress

Here are the 5 bears and their dear heads awaiting stuffing! Deliverance is at hand, i shall be ordering another 5 kilos of Heavy Poly Stuffing early next week. Those of a nervous disposition, look away briefly....

 

 (It's ok to look again now.) I have also made a serious start on diversification strategy@bearbovis and have made a sort of a cat, pictured here with the very small knitted cat that i made earlier this year, hybridized from a Jack Russell body (from Muir and Osborne's Best in Show) and the head, ears and tail which i cobbled together myself. [i should note that Muir and Osborne have made a new pattern book, this time of cats!]

The lodger thinks i've made a horse-rabbit. He has a point. This is the second pattern for a realistic-ish animal i have made and the same initial mistakes have occurred (re. the polar bear-camel). It's because i start from examining diagrams of the skeleton - the hips and shoulders are where they should be but this doesn't translate well for stuffed toys. I have an altered set of parts tacked up and waiting by the sewing machine.
  Many thanks in anticipation to my friend Sally who procured some cat noses for me from Fred Aldous HQ in Manchester last week!)
  Next: a German Shepherd Dog, an elephant and a badger for my Californian friend.

  Some small progress on the lino-cut:

 

I wish i'd made proper plans for the background cutting-patterns. As it is, now i've started, i'll just have to wing it and carry on making the usual, typical lino-cutting shapes. Must remember to remember in time, next time! There are so many other kinds of marks that can be made.

I shall finish with a few kitten-update photos!

two kittens are indeed, better than one.

Queenie allowed me to sit underneath her yesterday evening.

songs from the stage and screen with Boris Pocket.

stuck in the Birch tree having a thoughtful wash.

new work in progress

My maternity leave is coming to an end: Queenie and most recent arrival, NoNo, have both joined the Big Cats in the kitchen to eat when they're hungry, learned the ways of the cat-flaps, and are visiting the Ladies outside. Tremendous achievements for a 14 weeks and an approximately 18 week old, respectively. I should note that the little black and white (NoNo) is not pregnant as feared. She produced something astonishing shortly after being wormed and soon became kitten shaped and agile.

        

     

                                                                                                          
I seem to have had 6 whole weeks away from Bovis Bears. This week i returned to the drawing board and there are 5 new potential bears in the laboratory.

slightly macabre, apologies. And only one arm as the 1/4 metre of this stuff wasn't enough!

Fantastic faux fur - quite long pile so scissor sculpting around the muzzle will be necessary.

3 bears here. But i've run out of stuffing!

In other news, I've begun a new lino-cut and started sketching out another:

this is the inner ear! How amazing that we have a pair of perfect spirals in our heads!

i've been fascinated by the anatomy of necks for ages. So much going on though - i may have to limit it to vessels or muscles.

                                        
And the two paintings i began months ago can still be said to be on the go:

detail

                                        
I've just been to Pinky's the building merchants over the back to get a new tub of tile adhesive for these paintings. It's one of the best materials for building up texture.

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