Now in Eureka, CA

Now we live near the mudflats in Eureka, CA.

Don't we move around?

We like the changes of scenery and the changes of mood in different parts of the world and we think the best way to get to know the world for us is to move around. We like to stay in every new place  for a long enough time to walk all the paths until they are quite familiar, do some work, met some people and check out the plants and animals. Breathing the different air and hearing the different sounds are important to us too.

I have been working full time and part-time with the special education people in the Eureka public schools--not so much with the craft workshop aspect of the kid's educational program, as with their whole schooltime activities.

We have been here more than a year now and recently I have had more time to work on my own projects--mostly papier mache and colored pencil sketching.

Here are two of the drawings I have made:

Here is a sketch of Pablo Picasso--probably the most influential "fine" artist of the 20th century

...and a sketch of another great 20th century  artist, Salvador Dali.

I am enjoying studying the lives of these well-known aetists and it is quite interesting for me to sketch  their portraits from videos or photographs.

...

Time Out

Bear Dance in Redding, CA. (Tanya photo)

We recently moved to Temecula, CA.


The scene is very different from Escondido.


I will not have a "Creative Workshop" here for a while.


I thought I might work with some handicapped folks here but their meeting place is too far for me  to reach by bicycle and the gasoline prices have gotten too far out of hand for any volunteer commuting. (Or any commuting at all!)


Our nice little apartment is just too small for papier mache work.  I can work on drawings and my blogs--- but messy creative work is just not good.


When some sort of studio space materializes the workshop will go on.

...

Duck and Rabbit

 Duck Develops

 Rabbit Begins

Since Easter is just around the corner, we decided to add a rabbit mask to the ducky mask we started last week.


Since everybody has had some experience with the paste and the paper we just dug in a got rolling.


When so many hands are working things get accomplished very fast--and well.


I was impressed and I think the workshop people were too.


Next session will finish these two masks, and we will go on to some other projects we have in mind.

...

April First Ducky Mask

 Duck Mask Creation. (Tomasito Photo)

No joke!

This morning (4/1/11) we had the very first meeting of  interested clients at the Westview in Temecula for a session of papier mache fun--I almost said "work".

The suggestion was that we try to make a duck mask so I demonstrated the technique of papier mache to make a wearable duck mask.


We  used a paper grocery sack stuffed with wadded up newspaper for a maquette and taped on some big  "eyes" of wadded newspaper and a bill of cardboard.

The group quickly got the hang of tearing newspaper strips and dipping them into good flour and water boiled paste--  and almost before we knew it-- there was a mighty ducky-looking mask!


We left it to dry over the weekend and Monday we may be able to finish it! Then we hope to get going on a bunny mask just in time for Easter.

...

New Location

 Colonel O'Corn Mask (2008), Tomasito.

Tomasito's Creative Workshop has moved to Temecula--one of California's "new towns", which was literally not here 20 years ago and is now a busy community of 75,000 souls.


The town is designed for automobiles so we'll have to see how it handles the new world of high gas prices and more expensive transport.


But that is not the news for this blog.


The news is that our favorite workshop will begin a series of papier mache projects at the Westview center for handicapped people here in Temecula--and our first session will be on April 1, 2011! (I am tempted to say, "of course", since it is the day for all us fools!)


Our first project will be the construction of masks. The clients and staff are looking forward to something different and so am I.

...

Sketch of Maria Reiche

My sketch is based on a  photo portrait in a book about the interesting German  woman, Maria Reiche, who took it upon herself to investigate and preserve the now-famous "Nazca Lines" in Peru.

In her old age her face was a work of art--to me a wonderful thing.

...

Teddy Bear

This month I had the unusual good fun of creating a papier mache wall-hanging for a little boy's bedroom. The mom wanted to feature one of his favorite toys--a white stuffed teddy bear.

I have had one or two commissions since I started doing papier mache art work three years ago and this one was the most fun for me.

Since it is winter the drying time was long and since I use cardboard and newspaper in the construction, it can get to be a soggy mess if I try to hurry--so it is an exercise in patience and well as artistic skill.

The base of the hanging is a large-size pizza delivery box.

The mom was delighted with the project and so was I.

This is the wall-hanging. It has a 3D effect--with a cave behind the bear.

This close-up shows the animal pictures surrounding the bear. These are color cut-outs from magazines. I didn't use any paint in the construction.

...