Painting Matryoshka x3

Getting a headstart on Christmas presents for 2018, and since my niece and nephews love playing with two matryoshka nesting doll sets I brought from Russia years ago, thought I would paint each of them their own set. (For interest, here's a history of the stylish matryoshka.)

Painting those little 5 1/2" dolls on the woodblocks was a lifesaver. The dolls were easy to hold, turn and I didn't get acrylic on me while painting or setting them down, and I didn't spray myself with the shellac either. Really nifty. They were glued down with glue sticks which was easily removable after painting.

WILD CATS for the oldest:

TRADITIONAL DOLLS for the niece:

SEA ANIMALS for the youngest:

So come Christmas the kids will have their own matryoshkas to play with!

Scrollsaw Christmas Tree Ornaments

Garage Workshop 

Patterns and paint

These patterns were randomly collected over several months, a medley of revised scroll saw patterns (the reindeer, angels, a couple of the birds, and maybe the snowmen), cardboard cut-outs (the ballerinas), or just paper images (the nutcracker kings). When I see something I like, I pop it into a picture file and later modify the images to make patterns out of the random collection. Painted with acrylics on scrapwood pine, and some cedar (the birds).

Christmas Tree Horses

Days before Christmas I asked my brother via phone if he felt like passing out the Baltic plywood horses and more Baltic plywood horses I made to give to children at a children's hospital. He never answered ... but a few days later a friend who was visiting my mom's house was oo-ing and ah-ing on Facebook over the Christmas tree. She posted these picts:

I made the horses, but my bro picked up those adorable gingerbread men at a goodwill store!

Guess the horses never made it to the children's hospital, but at least this year they weren't forgotten in a box in the basement.