Within a month, next 14th and 15th  November I'll be present at my first Miniatures Show as a dealer! It will be in Madrid at Tom Bishop's Show, a very well known show which means a great responsability. As much as I know, there will be 149 artists from many countries, included Portugal of course.

I'm preparing it since last year. From time to time, I think it is  boldness! As I've told before, I started this work recently.   I have a long practice, more than 30 years, with different artistic expressions, but miniatures need other skills. I tried to develop them, working hard every day.

I'll be there, side by side, with a great artist and a great friend too, with whom I have learned a lot during this time - Ana Maria Morgado. You can see her marvellous work in her blog 

http://www.am-ambientes-em-miniatura.blogs.sapo.pt

Each piece I'll present was built from scratch, inspired here and there by real pieces, carefully chosen. Sometimes the choice was difficult. There are undreds of masterpieces I'd like to try...

Now, is time to start thinking how to present them to the public. I must admit that it's not easy. I have to travel to a foreign country, carrying everything I remember that may be usefull or needed. I'm a little bit nervous about that... I want  that everything will be perfect. I hope I'll achieve it.

Here is my first trial. I hope  you like it.

  

 

 
Again another British "coup".
Because, according to everybody's judgment, they are accountable for the bird-cage trend - without birds in them - to have in one's home.
 
This must, undoubtedly have been, a craving to let nature in around you. In the beginning, these bird-cages were meant to stay outside.
 
In any case, what is absolutely certain,  is that these small hanging houses exude real poetry.
 
The one shown here is made of tainted wood, it has three turrets, and dates from early twentieth century.
 
 
This is the replica, in a 1/12 scale, of an original belonging in 1991 to a French Antique dealer, Marc Bouchetar, Marché Paul-Bert, published in number 448 of the magazine "Maison Française".

 paulbert.antiquites-en-france.com/

 

 

 

Stained ebony colour with some coats of beewax, the console is ready.

 

 

Tomorrow I'll try to finish the mirror frame.

Holidays are about to finish and I'm working hard. There are a few miniatures I want to finish before I restart my full time job-teaching.

But this time, I exagerated! Usually I work in only one piece till I finish it, but now, I have three different consoles and respective mirror frames.

I'm a little bit lost in the middle of this mess but I'm happy with the results.

Next weekend, I promise, I'll range everything!  

 

All three consoles are still unfinished but here is one of them.

First I draw all the pieces. Then I cut them with the saw you can see in the picture above. Afterwards, a cutter, some files and lots of sand paper.

The mirror frame

Cut and carved in a single piece of limewood

 

The false marble. Painted with four coats of acrilic paint, only the polish is missing.

 

Painted on both sides, I fixed the legs with a very small drop of glue only to verify if they need some adjustments. I'll remove them later to stain and wax.

         

 

I've already carved the front and one of the lateral pieces (this one is not shown in the photo). I don't know the name of those pieces in English, but in Portuguese we call them "avental" (apron).

 

And this is the global aspect for now

 

I need three or four more days  to finish this one. And the other ones, we'll see... the weather is so warm now here, in the south of Portugal where I live, that all paints dry so fast that it is almost impossible to work.

 

 

 

I can finnaly post the last photos.

I don't understand why there is always somebody ready to destroy!

Last month, a few days after my last post, someone entered  my Flickr account and infected it with a virus. I don't know how or why, but only yesterday I could partially solve the problem!

I hope within a few days everything will be completly ok and I can restart posting.

Now, I leave here the  photos of the embroidered screen.

I have to thank Gisela Silvestre for her marvelous work!

 

Here you can see the back of the screen and a detail too.

 

 

            

As I promised you, here are the first photos of my last screen.

This is a team work!

First, I did the project.

 

The photo bellow show the first sketches

 

After, I needed to calculate the measures for 1/12 scale and convert the drawings for the embroidery. For this last sep, I used the help of my computer where I simulate shapes and colours.

 

When  all this was done, I met my friend Gisela. After a long discussion about threads, gauzes and other details, we toke the final decisions and she started her part of this work - to embroider. 

Some weeks later, she called me to see the result. It was as I expected- beautifull and perfect!

 

 

 

Here, two details of her p recious work    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now, is my turn again. Is time for woodwork.

 

I've already finished one pannel

 

and I'm preparing everything to finish the other two. I'm working with thin strips and boards of walnut (1.8 mm thickness).  

 

I hope, next week, I can show you the whole screen  finished.

 

More than two months since my last post!!! ... My work  full time as a teacher didn't allow me  a minute for miniatures lately!  

But, meanwhile, things happen! In the middle of May, I've been in Madrid at Tom Bishop Show, as a visitor. It was a well deserved week-end, for relaxing and appreciating all the beautifull minis exhibited.

Now, the classes have finished and the pupils are on holidays! Me, I'm still working till mid  July.  Teachers have meetings everyday to prepare  next year, that will start in September. But as the timetable is not so strict now, I have restarted my mini-work with a new piece.

A "very old" indian bench.

 

Every leg takes me three or four hours to finish. I do that with a cutter, files and sandpaper. I don't use motortools!

 

I tried to give an old aspect, with lots of coats of teint, acrilic paints and a final coat of wax.

I think I achieved that "shabby chic" look...

But... when I was about to finish it, I had an idea!...

And these are the good news! My idea gave birth to a new miniaturist!!!

 

GISELA SILVESTRE

She lives near  me, in Algarve, she was also a teacher but she is retired now. She has plenty of time, marvellous hands and she loves cross-stich.

 

I asked her if she would accept the challenge of mini embroideries. I wanted some pillows for my bench and... 

 

...look what she did!!! 

 

 Aren't they lovely?

 

  

And look at my bench now!

Proud and comfortable!

 

And the funniest is that Gisela fell in love with this mini-work and she doesn't want to stop anymore!

 

She already finished two more pillows...

 

(I only have to sew and fill them with sand as I did to the other three)

 

...and three marvellous pannels for my new screen.  I'll show you them soon.

 

So, wellcome Gisela to this mad-mini-world of dream and fantasy (with thousands of hours of work)!

 

 

 

Hand painted screen

 

Not yet ready, the hinges are too big and must be replaced, here is the final result.

Painted with acrilics, it's finished with a coat  of coloured stain and bees' wax. Totaly build from scratch in basswood, all the pieces were handcutted, one by one, to obtain a perfect adjustement. 

The final colour is old pine, but in one of the photos, as it was taken inside my studio with the lights on, it looks too much red. Behind, it has also  a very simple painting in a single colour. 

It has taken me 9 days to accomplish, from the first sketches.

Apesar de ainda não estar pronto, as dobradiças são demasiado grandes e têm que ser substituídas, é este o aspecto final. Demorou 9 dias a realizar, desde que fiz os primeiros esboços. Está construído em tília, a pintura foi feita com acrílicos e tem um acabamento tingido em "pinho velho" e cera de abelhas.

 

Esta fotografia, por ter sido tirada no interior, com luz artificial, dá-lhe um tom demasiado avermelhado, mas as grades estão tingidas em tom de cerejeira.

Nas costas, um pequeno apontamento de pintura, monocromático.

 

Para quem está "treinado" no processo criativo, imaginar ou recriar uma peça de mobiliário, não é difícil! ...

Reduzir essa peça para a escala tradicional das miniaturas de colecção (esc: 1/12), já não é tão fácil, visto que temos que adaptar os processos tradicionais de construção aos materiais e ao tamanho, tornando essa construção possível.

Observando com atenção os trabalhos de alguns miniaturistas, preferencialmente peças que hoje já são consideradas antiguidades (porque essas sim, têm a garantia de ser trabalho artesanal), aprende-se rapidamente a dar a volta a alguns problemas e a encontrar possíveis soluções.

Mas, pintar nesta escala, para quem, como eu, passou mais de trinta anos a pintar com trinchas, em telas de dois metros, é um verdadeiro quebra-cabeças!!!  

Como se essa dificuldade não fosse suficiente, resolvi pintar um biombo... com flores e borboletas!... 

Qual é o problema? A pergunta é evidente, mas a resposta também! O problema é simples: - Nunca tinha pintado flores, muito menos borboletas!!! 

Formada por uma Escola Superior de Belas Artes, adquiri todos os "conceitos e preconceitos" inerentes a uma formação académica, clássica, entre os quais: - Flores... NUNCA!

A única forma de pintura figurativa "admitida" pelos Mestres, era a figura humana e esta, dentro de certos cânones!  

Muitos anos passados sobre os meus tempos de discípula, permito-me hoje, "brincar com coisas sérias". Afinal, porque não, flores?

A resposta está aqui: -Precisava de outros trinta anos de treino, para que o resultado fosse melhor!...

Mas, agora, já está! Comecei e não vou desistir!

 

Para já, o projecto:

 

 

Estudo simples, a aguarela, sobre uma montagem de imagem real em suporte informático

 

Primeiro painel já pintado e encerado e decalque do desenho para o segundo painel.

 

 

 

Pintar dois "iguais", isso... é um sonho inatingível! Mas acabou melhor do que eu supunha...

Estes, são os paineis laterais. O terceiro, o painel do centro, esse... amanhã veremos como vai ficar...

 

P.S. - Tão cedo não me vou esquecer desta "experiência" e prometo que vou pensar duas vezes, antes de me meter noutra !!!...

 

 

. A big challenge!!!

. "Encased nostalgia"

. A classical console

. My working table- a real ...

. After a big, big trouble....

. Another screen

. Happy birthday!

. Time flies!!! But in the ...

. Biombo pintado

. Projecto para um biombo

. Outubro 2009

. Agosto 2009

. Julho 2009

. Junho 2009

. Abril 2009

. Março 2009

. Janeiro 2009

. Dezembro 2008

. Novembro 2008

. Outubro 2008

. Setembro 2008

. Agosto 2008

. Julho 2008

Check out..

..these Dollhouse Miniatures sites!