After seeing some angel ornaments for sale I got the idea of making something similar as gifts. But my idea was to add the faces of the recipients to their respective angels. Doesn’t that sound like fun?
I painted the bodies red and added a little shading on the sides. As you can see, these primitive figures have no shoulders or arms. Which I kinda love. It will make the angels almost cartoon-like, giving me lots of artistic latitude.
The halos got a gold leaf treatment. Don’t you love the way the black underneath shows through? I think that sort of imperfection adds a LOT of character and interest.
The wings got a rather “fancy” country-style treatment: cream paint, stained edges, and lace. Perfect, I think!
Before assembling the angels, I spent some time on Photoshop tweaking photographs in order to get heads to the right size, etc. Here’s my first prototype, with me as the subject.
Isn’t it a hoot?
I’ve now given away the other three, and I can’t believe I forgot to photograph them first! But, my friend, Lynn, photographed hers. As you can see, I tried to match the text to the expression on the face.
(This is what she gets for striking such a goofy pose in the original photo!)
These were a lot of fun to make and I’ll be making several more.
What craft/art projects are you doing for Christmas?
Ellen Lindner
P.S. I ordered the angel kits from retrocafeart.com
These are wonderful. What a unique little gift.
Thanks, Dolores!