New artwork...!
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| "Toto Too", 5x7 wood oval plaque |
Oh, how the months do roll on. We find ourselves here in May and at yet another Nibblefest Art Contest week. May's theme is "Pet Animals". Well, I certainly adore animals of all ilk -- pets or otherwise. I am especially devoted to my own dear, sweet wee pet -- a very much cherished and doted upon 27-year-old geriatric cockatiel (a feathered 'baby' by the name of Pierre). Even so, I still can't say as a theme it was giving me great sparks of inspiration at first. After tossing around a few lackluster ideas, only to boringly reject them, a good friend pitched several promising suggestions, including one that I finally felt I could really run with. Because honestly, who doesn't adore that darling, courageous Cairn Terrier of the film classic, The Wizard of Oz....?
And so we have here a wee piece painted in loving tribute the spunky puppy-whupple, Toto, and his loving mistress, Dorothy Gale.
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| Side view, showing painted Rainbow |
Painted in oils, I used a 2nd-hand, oval wooden plaque that I already had on hand to recycle for this project. I really liked the oval outline to work with, because it was the perfect shape for including Dorothy's Rainbow, painted along and following the sides of the plaque...:
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| "Somewhere Over the Rainbow...." |
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| Side view....: |
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| Close up |
And so, if I was going to include a Rainbow..., I guess I figured I should also include two other highly iconic elements of the Oz tale: A Tornado, and the Yellow Brick Road (as seen in Dorothy's background)....
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| "Toto Too" for the theme "Pet Animals" |
Now, being as that I was recycling this plaque (which originally had a small cluster of tole-painted daisies on it), I found it interesting how the original owner had herself recycled a pop can tab to fashion some hanging hardware on the back. Highly functional, so I left it alone -- and heck, might even start doing this myself (if I can get my hands on a supply of used pop can tabs that is -- being as that we're non-pop drinkers!)....:
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| Back, showing the existing pop-can-tab hanging hardware. Clever! |
In any case, the film Wizard of Oz does hold such a fond place in my heart. In my youth, before the magic of of the internet, or heck, even VCR players, The Wizard of Oz would only broadcast on TV once a year. As I recall it was always on Easter. My siblings and I would count the days..., then on The Day it was to air, we would count the hours, and then the minutes...! So, so much excitement in our house over 'just' a movie. Those were the days!
~~~~EDIT EDIT EDIT~~~
"Toto, Too" won First Place in May's Nibblefest Art Contest! Thanks to all my lovely bidders...!
