Up from the swamp

The alligator is finished and now resides with his new owner, my friend Linda, in Tallahassee.  She's named him Luther after a real alligator that lives in the lake near her home.  She seems very happy to have an inside Luther and an outside Luther.

Luther was made from paper mache and paper clay.  I painted him with a base coat of olive green and then dry-brushed a lighter green over that.  Then I added some accent colors, per Linda's request, so he would coordinate with the colors in her guest room.

Luther had very humble beginnings.

He was an ordinary brown paper bag--coaxed into shape with some masking tape--with wire leg bones stuck in where I guessed the legs should be.  I used a product called Fast Mache to cover him, and to add some bulk where I guessed the bulk should be.  None of my projects involve any sort of scientific or mathematical calculations.  I fly strictly by the seat of my pants.  That's why I call everything folk art.

I'm pleased with Luther.  I never know what I'm going to get when I'm flying without a flight plan. 

Now I'm thinking it might be fun to make a frog.  I've got frog colors in my paint box. I'll be needing a frog-sized brown paper bag though.  I guess it's time to send Mr. Gadget out for another bottle of wine.