The Official Windstone Blog
August raffle

Ok folks, I have a prize for the August raffle here, but he is a secret.
He is a dragon, his name is "Wampus Cat", and he is flamboyantly marked. People who look at him go "wow", then they stand there a minute before they say " I kinda like him" .

You have been warned.

I painted Wampus Cat to be an Ebay "Artist's edition" but after I had started painting him I noticed that he had some casting defects, so he is now a raffle prize.

windstone
1 week 2 days ago
0
Strange object

This blog has nothing to do with Windstone, but I think mysteries are always welcome.
I finally found the old polaroid photos I took of this "Mysterious Object" that we have been trying to identify for years.

...So what is this thing?!? Anybody have a clue?

The closest thing I can think of is a brass wind instrument mute, but it seems too large for most brass instruments, and it isn't padded or very smooth where it would touch the bell of an instrument. It is flat on the bottom.

windstone
6 weeks 3 hours ago
4
July Raffle prize

This is "Dance", the raffle prize for July!
He is a pinto of some kind, is this kind is called Overo -? I think Tobiano is the other kind, with the rounded spots. I can't keep them straight.
I noticed that he had some almost invisible pin holes in his mane after I had painted him, so instead of being sold, he gets to go home with the lucky winner of this months raffle!

If you would like a chance to win Dance, email me with your forum name and real name and address, with the words "July 2010 raffle " in the subject line.

windstone
7 weeks 3 days ago
1
Time for another really weird blog about art.

So, I was thinking about capital "A" Art again.

I previously had come to the conclusion that the theme and purpose of "Modern Art" is to feel around for the borders that define "Art" in our culture, move them into new territory and by doing so, stretching our brains out a-ways too.
Modern art started when somebody, I think it was Cezanne, decided to treat a painting as a flat image that was made with paint on a board, when he outlined a shadow with a line.
WHAT?? IS HE NUTS??

windstone
8 weeks 4 hours ago
3
The raffle prize for June 2010

This is "Flat Paws" the raffle prize for June. Like most of our raffle prizes, he is a little bit odd. His name refers to his front feet, which, because his mold was under poured when he was cast, are a bit flatter than other flap cat's feet. Other than having flat flapcat feet instead of fat flapcat feet, he is a perfectly good, odd eyed, soccer ball colored flapcat. He has little blue and gold metallic spots on his wing feathers, and matching blue and gold jewels set in his collar.

windstone
11 weeks 4 days ago
0
Dragon Cats I have known

These are two examples of the several attempts I have tried, to sculpt a Tatzel cat, or Dragon cat. I have never been that happy with any of the designs I have done -I wanted them to be ... I dunno ... prettier, less creepy, more catlike or something. I think it is the long neck that bothers me.

The sketch is a photoshop drawing I did of a real sculpture. It is a tiny sculpture intended to be cast in pewter, and I couldn't get the stupid camera to focus properly, so I drew over the out-of-focus image and added some details that had broken off of the sculpture over the years.

windstone
14 weeks 6 hours ago
1
Raffle prize for May 2010!

Notice how I put the year after the month -we've been doing this raffle for quite awhile now, so I need to designate a year!

This is "Azalea" she is the prize for this month's raffle. She is a dark dapple grey unicorn mare. She is one of the test paints I have done of the dapple grey pattern. I think this is the most difficult horse color to reproduce!

She came out darker than I wanted, but this is what a young dapple grey horse will look like when they are just beginning to change from their first dark coat color to "grey".

windstone
15 weeks 6 days ago
1
the 997raffle

Was a great success!
Pegasi1978 won the special raffle for robotics team 997.
She chose "Stormy" the unicorn as her prize.

We raised over two thousand dollars for the Corvallis High School robotics team!!

windstone
18 weeks 1 hour ago
1
Prototype Phoenix

I test painted a phoenix today! I painted him grey because there aren't many grey phoenixes around.
This is one of the very first castings we got out of the master mold, after a new master was cast. I sculpted the topknot on this phoenix out of epoxy clay because this version still had a hole to glue on a pewter crest. I am going to just sculpt a crest onto the master instead so that we don't have to fool around with a separate pewter piece. We have enough problems!

windstone
20 weeks 1 day ago
5
It's Complicated

There is a Special raffle this month!
Explanation:
Griffin, our son, is in a robotics club at Corvallis High School. Each year the team designs and builds a robot to compete against other High School level robotics clubs in the region. This year there were 60 teams that competed in the regional competition.
The Corvallis High School club WON!!!

Now the team qualifies to go to the National competition in Atlanta Georgia!!!
... but the team needs to raise the money for this trip. They have almost made it, but are still a bit short of their goal.

windstone
21 weeks 1 day ago
0

Mini Catalogs

mini catalogs gar uni scratcher royals 800 long x

I was asked about our "mini catalogs" in a thread by "Kitsunelady" on our Windstone forum:
http://www.windstoneeditions.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=11811

Submitted by windstone on Sat, 11/28/2009 - 12:12

November raffle prize!

copper pearl mother dragon

This is a mother dragon that I test painted... in a color I don't have a name for. I think I'll call it something like "Toasted Pearl", but I don't love that name. If you have a better name, let me know!
She is marked like a Siamese cat, but she has a pearl colored body and "points" that I have airbrushed with copper, brown and dark brown. She also has some violet on the darkest areas which match her amethyst jewels and lavender eyes.

Submitted by windstone on Thu, 11/19/2009 - 11:22

Raffle Prize for October 09

The raffle prize for October is pictured on my facebook photo gallery this time ,because this blog page won't let me upload and image tonight for some reason.
Here is the link to the image on my facebook page (though I don't know if everyone can see it, or if you have to be on facebook yourself) http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?v=feed&id=559077034#/photo.php?pid=3...

He is a Male griffin with an attitude. I airbrushed him in Halloween colors: black, white and tan, like a Bernese Mountain dog.

Submitted by windstone on Mon, 10/19/2009 - 22:14

Quaggas everywhere!

QuaggaMaleUni#1_pic5 cr

This is the Male Unicorn, painted by Helen Mishkin

You know how when you notice something you don't usually think about, you start to notice it everywhere?

Submitted by windstone on Mon, 10/12/2009 - 16:03

This is the raffle prize for September!

fushia scratching dragon Sept raffle

This is "Fuchsia". He is a scratching dragon that is painted in a color very close to the "Violet Flame" color, except he lacks the blue color that the violet flames were antiqued with.
Like most of the raffle prizes I have found, Fuschia is a "rescue" piece. He has some small defects on his chest scales that make him look as if he is on his way to becoming an "old warrior", but he is still very beautiful.

Submitted by windstone on Fri, 09/18/2009 - 22:41

Test paint colors

sapphire fledge copper patina Oriental dragon

Here are a couple test paint colors we did this week.

Submitted by windstone on Tue, 09/15/2009 - 22:39

Cuttle poads

cuttle poads 2cuttle poads bk bkgrnd

Quickie blog:
Here are some pics of the ornate "cuttle poads" I painted last week. This is a pattern that developed while I was trying to make something cuttlefish-like. They seemed to need those those shield-like markings on their backs in addition to stripes. The shields were derived from the spine markings the Bengal poads have. The little metallic spots resemble the solder spots on circuit boards.

"Poad" is trademarked to me, Melody Pena.
If I write this at the bottom of the page, I don't have to put that stupid "TM" after the word "poad"

Submitted by windstone on Tue, 09/08/2009 - 22:16

Sparrow Paws

IMG_6953 IMG_6949

(This blog entry was written by Windstone artist Helen Mishkin, or "Arlla" on the forum)

Submitted by windstone on Fri, 08/28/2009 - 13:00

Bengal Poads

Grey Bengal poads top grey poads

Bengal poads, of course!
I airbrushed about thirty of these chocolate-grey ones so far. . Like a herd of zebras, each one is unique. They have individualized tribal markings on their backs as well as leopard rosette spots on their bodies and rumps. Some of them remind me of the markings cuttlefish have.

What else can I paint like a bengal around here? Our car?

"Poad" is (tm) to Melody Pena

Submitted by windstone on Tue, 08/25/2009 - 22:04

Further adventures of the casting demons

bad pieces smaller2

I was asked about our reject pieces by "Nakase" in a thread on the Windstone forum:
http://www.windstoneeditions.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=11360
I have been whining about how much trouble we have been having with the gypsum lately, so here are a few photos of what we are dealing with.

Submitted by windstone on Mon, 08/17/2009 - 11:08