Returning to Fun with Gourds

After so much painting - and also a lot of drawing which I haven't been posting - it was definitely time to go back to 3D work, and I was inspired to create a gourd for the 3D show coming up in January.  Now that I'm done with it I like to too much to part with it.  So it may or may not go into the show after all.  A ridiculously high price with solve the possibility of selling it, but it's probably not worth worrying about at all given how poorly art has been selling lately. 

I always find it exciting to combine painting with 3D.  For the lid handle, I sculpted a little rabbit from polymer clay.  She has a small madiera citrine in her forehead and is resting her paw on a rock crystal sphere.  Thank goodness for two part epoxy glue!

I designed the spaces for the rabbit portraits between intertwining bands which are supposed to reminiscent of celtic knots.  The space at the very top under the sculpted rabbi, as well as the triangles between the bands, are filled with gold leaf.  I painted the rabbit portraits with soft body acrylic then glazed the backgrounds with interference green/orange acrylic.

To finish it, I added a band of script around the bottom.  It's Theban script, and a transliteration of "European brown hare, fear or caution, a personal choice" which reflects some of the symbolism associated with this animal.