Day 21: Rhinoceros Hornbill
This is called a Rhinoceros Hornbill – a bird found in many parts of South East Asia, and again a bird that I saw growing up quite a lot. They’re big, impressive birds, with these very interesting horns on their heads… They’re very recognisable.
I tried a different technique with this bird – with the previous birds I have been cutting out an outline first and fitting pieces to that shape. This time, I just eyeballed it and cut out shapes separately…
I don’t see much difference to be honest! Do you notice a difference in this bird compared to my other birds?
I’m also not 100% sure how I feel about this one. It’s hard for me to like the birds I make because I have such exact specifications in my mind, which my creations should measure up to. What can I say, I’m my own worst critic.
Day 22: Snail on a mushroom
I’m quite happy with the textures going on in this piece – I used a lot of crayon on the brown and also on the shell of the snail. In the green part of the background, the detail comes from using a hand made stamp created from foam sheets.
While now I wish some of the details were different, mainly the length of the ‘dirt’ at the base of the mushroom. But overall, I think this was better than my last mushroom.
Day 23: The Otter-Bear
This is supposed to be a river otter, which my family and I used to see in Singapore as there were a few families of otters living on the island. Otters are such cool animals, I think they’re so cute and fun.
This collage looks a bit like a cross between a bear and an otter… so I’m going with the Avatar-style animal hybrid as the title. This was my first animal (not including the snail) and it was much harder than I expected! Definitely need more practice in this area!
Day 24: Pink and White Flowers
I took this photo of some flowers in Konstanz, Germany, a while ago.
Bushes or fields of flowers are starting to be in my comfort zone, I’ve realised. I really like making them, I’m happy when they’re more abstract… they’re fun, and lower risk. I think the outcome is nice – though in this case I feel like they’re more Christmasy than summery! Do you get that too?
Day 25: Bay in Croatia
I took this photo in Croatia a few years ago now, and I just love the colours. The colour of the water was stunning, and I’m actually happy with how this collage has turned out! I had to change the boat because I was struggling with the angle of it – so far this is another one of my weaknesses with collage.
Overall this week, there were a lot of new things again and I had a great time making these! Animals and boats are a struggle for me. Something I’ll have to practice in the future.
